Joe Biden also said lax campaign financing rules have played into the devolution of Congress. | Getty Biden: 9 Republican senators told me they knew opposing Garland was wrong

Former Vice President Joe Biden said as the Republicans were blocking President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, nine GOP senators told him they knew they were doing the wrong thing.

“I call 17 Republicans and say, ‘You know better,’” Biden said Thursday. “Nine of them said to me, ‘You’re right Joe, but I can’t do anything about it because if I do the Koch brothers or somebody is going to drop $5 million into my race and I’ll lose my primary.’”


Biden, speaking at the University of Pennsylvania, said lax campaign financing rules have played into the devolution of Congress.

“You want to change American politics tomorrow? Pass public financing of elections,” Biden said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has called for Senate Democrats to block President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, which might lead Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to change the Senate rules to lower the threshold from 60 votes to a simple majority for procedural hurdles.

McConnell and other Republicans cited “the Biden rule” in defending blocking Garland's nomination, referencing a speech the Delaware senator gave in 1992 in which he said a Supreme Court nominee should not be considered in an election year.