President Joe Biden appeared to lose his train of thought during his Thursday press conference, trailing off and then abruptly changing the subject.
Biden, addressing the White House Press Corps in an official setting for the first time since taking office on Jan. 20, attempted to explain how to get things done in a 50/50 Senate when he suddenly paused and then moved on to the next question. (RELATED: ‘I Never Saw That’: Chris Wallace Rips Biden For Reverting To ‘White House Talking Points’ On Every Foreign Policy Question)
WATCH:
Biden began by giving his assessment of the filibuster — namely, that he would prefer a return to the talking filibuster. “For example, it used to be that you had to stand there and talk and talk and talk and talk until you collapse. And guess what? People got tired of talking and tired of collapsing,” he said.
Biden went on to say he would support efforts to either reform or bring back this type of filibuster. He then pivoted to note that everything was trickier when the Senate was so evenly divided and began to explain how he might try to move things forward.
“As you have observed, I am a fairly practical guy. I want to get things done. I want to get them done consistent with what we promised the American people and in order to do that in a 50/50 Senate, we have to get 50 votes so that the Vice President of the United States can break the tie, or I get 51 votes without her,” Biden said.
“And so I’m going to say something outrageous. I have never been particularly poor at calculating how to get things done in the United States Senate periods of the best way to get something done, if you hold near and dear to you that you like to be able to — anyway,” Biden trailed off, looking down momentarily before moving on.
“We are ready to get a lot done, and if we have to, if there is a complete lockdown and chaos as a result of the filibuster, then we’ll have to go beyond what I’m talking about. Okay, hang on. Uh. Sorry.”