nomination of murphy to be u.s. surgeon general. upcoming nominations to be considered in the senate are living to be assistant health and human services secretary david to be set deputy secretary of energy. live coverage of the u.s. senate always here on c-span2. ♪♪ >> c-span2, unfiltered view of government created by america's cable television company. today brought to you by these television companies to provide c-span2 to viewers as a public service. ♪♪ thursday, president biden holds his first official news conference since taking office. live coverage 1:15 p.m. eastern c-span online at c-span.org or listen on the free c-span radio app.

a member of senate problems including minority leader mitch mcconnell against changing the senate filibuster rule. here are those remarks from earlier. >> house democrats tried to overturn survival election results from last november, some democrats are break setting senate rules for partisan rewrite of all 50 states. all 50 states election holes. the threshold is the reason why huge pillars of domestic policy back and forth every time a different party wins majority. so let's think of something like the mexico city policy executive branch policy about funding overseas is stripped back and forth, every single time the white house changed party.

since the 1980s, for help the president issued a memo from democratic presidents retracted. the legislative filibuster is what keeps the entirety of federal law from working that way. for a long time, senators on both sides have recognized the senate and the country are better off with actual stability. both sides have understood there's no permanent majorities in american politics so a system that gives both sides, benefits everyone in the long term. that's why 33 of our democratic colleagues said a few years ago when they all signed a letter insisting rulese protecting debate on legislation be preserved. is it present biden believes consistently throughout his tenure.

ten years ago, he said killing the filibuster would be an example of power. i was president biden. he's held his position during the campaign this past year. my colleagues and democratic leadercr that in 2017, senator schumer said the legislative filibuster is the most important between the senate and the house. let's find a way to protect the 60 vote rule for legislation. as the democratic leader in 2017. democrats didn't just spent the last four years supporting the filibuster y, they've spent four

years using the filibuster to kill senator tim scott police reform bill in the wake of the death of george floyd and breonna taylor. could have had federal legislation t since last summer, putting more body cameras on police, requiring incident reporting to the fbi and making it a federal crime. among other things, democrats stopped it using the filibuster. a few months before the used the filibuster to turn it towards the kids act into a partisan standoff, the process models senate democrats have the goal to block relief in the market in order to demand for the change. in 2018, senate democrats used the filibuster to block funding

and force a brief government shutdown over immigration, of all things. one of the democratic leaders first major acts as leader of this conference was the filibuster to shut down the entire federal government. the democratic side spent four years defending and happily using the same senate rule many of our colleagues now attack. this reversal is not about principle and it's just raw power. raw power. three years ago the democratic leader of the senate majority going nuclear killing the legislative filibuster, here's what senator durbin had to say. i can tell you that would be the end of the senate as originally

created going back to our founding fathers, senator durbin in 2018. just a few years ago. now the argument is the opposite. i understand our colleagues rotated through several different explanations for his reversal in the last few days. first, our colleagues in illinois indicated he changed his mind because republicans specifically used the filibuster years but republicans were in the majority the whole time. the majority the whole time. it was the democrats using the filibuster and minority in 2018,

2019 and 2020. republicans, sorry but that makes no sense whatsoever. a few days later, it was a new rationale. just that the senate hasn't been getting anything done so the institution needs the overhaul. we just had a uniquely terrible year to make that argument. last year was not a good year to make the argument. the past five bipartisan covid bills with jake bipartisan majorities spent the most money in american history that helped save the country. i don't see instruction in the. historic bipartisan bill for public land, using the

filibuster on that. there's fake history swirling around the discussion, fake history. about a year ago, former president obama launched a new coordinated and obvious campaign to get liberals o repeating the claim that the senate rules are somehow a relic of racism and bigotry. a month after democrats used the filibuster to kill the police reformef and lynching to the bi. these talking points are effort to use the history of racism to justify partners in the present. it's like what we saw last summer were protest mobs defaced statues 4% of justice. like abraham lincoln.

mistakenly, damaging good institutions because of our troubled past. multiple chambers, multiple fact checkers torn into this rules of the senate are rooted in racism. historianspo solidify that the not emerge from debates over slavery or segregation. one scholar's account was that the very first senate filibuster was over a bridge across the river. the very first filibuster with a bridge over the river. the senator from massachusetts justhu got three from the washington post for the

argument. the washington post looks at history and found the filibuster in the senate concerned issues for congress what to do about andrew jackson's from the deposit. appointed to a publication called the congressional world and whether to create a national back. but i am serious, i democratic colleagues believe what they are saying, they themselves use a racist tool senator scott last year, a racist relic when they declared the kids act, delayed care act to block legislation to protect unborn babies who can feel pain for senator schumer

and durbin, they sent a letter all endorsing a racist relic. for the filibuster was not an offensive relic as recently as last summer but magically, imagine this. within a year, much of the became an offensive relic from the instant the democrats came to power. all of the sudden it's an offensive racist relic on the democrats coming to power. jaw-dropping. these consulting intelligence of the american people, desperate

to change the subject to the 1960s because they want people to forget just last year. the 1960s, racist relic, some of my democratic colleagues want to lobby two of their colleagues to go back on their word, they should at least have the courage. the far left want democrats to break senate rules for no other reason, no other reason they want more power. they want more power. the s same people trying to overturn a certified election results over the house, break senate rules to override election laws of all 50 states from here in washington. it's that simple.

it's not going toe be by coordinated campaign to change the subject. ♪♪ >> c-span's "washington journal" everyday we take your calls live on the air on the news of the day and discussed policy issues that impact. coming up wednesday morning, discussion on change and discontinuing the use of senate filibuster with ronald and institution government study senior fellow in massachusetts democratic congressman jim mcgovern and oklahoma republican congressman talking about the hearing earlier this week examining the war powers, reasserting congress has role. watch see spans "washington journal" the 7:00 p.m. eastern wednesday morning and join the discussion with your phone calls, facebook comments, texts and tweets. >> coming up tonight on c-span2,

senate judiciary committee hearing on reducing gun violence, remarks from president biden in colorado governor on yesterday's shooting in boulder, colorado. ♪♪ >> c-span2, unfiltered view of government created by america's cable television company. today brought to you by these television companies to provide c-span2 diffuse as a public service. ♪♪ >> next, hearing on ways to reduce gun violence, senate judiciary committee from public health officials, law enforcement officials and community advocates one day after the shooting in boulder, colorado killing ten people and one week after a shooting and atlanta killed eight. this is three and a half hours.