But after an overnight government shutdown because of the filibuster, the bill eventually passed in both chambers and the president signed it on Friday morning.
And for the first time, the president also voiced support for changing the Senate's filibuster rule to require lawmakers to talk on the floor if they want to hold up a bill.
I had always been good at writing, so I continued as secretary to Dr Strong, and also began reporting what was said in parliament, for the daily newspapers.
A variety of polls show many Americans broadly support the ideas in the voting rights legislation, but are divided along partisan lines when it comes to ending the filibuster.
Biden said if no breakthrough on legislation can be achieved, lawmakers in the Senate should, quote, " change the rules including getting rid of the filibuster for this" .
And unlike the budget bill, voting rights is the kind of legislation where they need to get past a filibuster, meaning they need 10 Republicans to do anything.