Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia indicated Sunday he is open to reforming the filibuster to allow more opportunities for Democrats to pass legislation through the Senate along party lines and without relying on Republican support.
In a series of interviews Sunday, Manchin, who wields significant power in the evenly divided Senate as a moderate willing to work across party lines, said he believes the filibuster should be made more “painful” to dissuade the minority from using it frequently.
“If you want to make it a little bit more painful, make him stand there and talk,” Manchin said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I’m willing to look at any way we can, but I’m not willing to take away the involvement of the minority.”
While the West Virginia senator said he remains opposed to abolishing the 60-vote threshold for ending debate on a motion, he floated the idea of a “talking filibuster,” in which a senator must remain on the floor speaking to hold up legislation.
Manchin, too, did not rule out using the budget reconciliation process, a procedure used by the Senate to pass President Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package with a simple-majority threshold, for future legislation when bipartisan negotiations fail to yield a deal, including the sweeping elections reform package approved by the House last week.
“I’m not going to go there until my Republican friends have the ability to have their say, also,” he said. “And I’m hoping they’ll get involved to the point to where we have 10 of them that will work with 50 of us, or 15 of them that will work with 45 of us.”
Manchin said “there’s no need” for Democrats to use reconciliation “until the other process has failed.”
With the Senate evenly split 50-50, leaving Vice President Kamala Harris to cast tie-breaking votes, pressure among Democrats to eliminate the filibuster has been building to make it easier to implement Mr. Biden’s legislative agenda. The rule requires 10 Republicans to cross the aisle to move forward with a bill, giving the minority party power to effectively kill major pieces of legislation.
Manchin and Senator Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat from Arizona, have said they are against efforts to get rid of the filibuster, though a growing number of Democrats have said they are willing to do so.
Anyone who thinks Manchin is not showboating is dumber than a box of rocks. Of course he will vote with the Democrats…keep in mind he has survived in West Virginia, a Red state for decades by lying and pulling their noses…I know, I was born in W. Virginia and know a lot of Mountaineers. All of this media attention is orchestrated by his staff who think he will run for the presidency in 2024, so keep that in mind when he shits in you ear! A snake rarely comes out of the swamp!
i’M DISAPPOINTED IN MANCHIN, I THOUGHT HE HAD AN I Q ABOVE 90! HE SHOULD FOLLOW THE EXAMPLE HIS GOVERNOR SET WHEN HE WAS ELECTED A DEMO-COMMIE AND IMMEDIATLY CAME TO HIS SENSES AND SWITCHED TO A PATRIOTICE, AMERICAN LOVING REPUBLICAN!
Let the asshole do it then when the republicans take control of the senate next year they can stick up the Dems ass and they will only have them selves to blame.
It must be said that unless someone Sen.Manchin or another steps up and shows sure common sense we will be a communist country before the 2022 midterms. These democraps has completely lost all vision of USA values.
I wish I had learned to lie like democrats. They get away with it. I always got caught and whipped like a borrowed mule.
Joe manchin is out of office next election,WV people got fooled once by him so pack your bags joe your ass is going home soon !!!!