Senate Democrats are putting pressure on moderate West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin to back filibuster reform in order to pass a pair of sweeping election overhaul bills currently waiting to be taken up by the Senate before the 2022 midterms.
The Hill reports that, spurred on by a self-imposed January 17 deadline to vote on changes to the filibuster, Democratic leadership, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (NY), are scrambling to lock in a commitment from Manchin to back filibuster reform. Democrats are preparing to attempt to ram the bills through the Senate on a party-line basis, after Schumer promised a vote to change the Senate rules by Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 17.
“If Republicans continue to block our efforts, The Senate will debate and consider changes to Senate rules on or before January 17, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, to protect the foundation of our democracy: Free and fair elections,” Schumer tweeted Monday.
Schumer himself acknowledged that while there have been “serious discussions” with Manchin regarding filibuster reform, the effort to overhaul the Senate rules is an “uphill fight.”
“Manchin has said all along that he wants to deal with Republicans and we have all been very patient,” Schumer told reporters, via The Hill. “I believe he knows that we will not get any Republican cooperation.”
Manchin, along with Democratic Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema, have been adamant that they will not support filibuster reform. Schumer said that Democrats backing the voting bills have spent a considerable amount of time talking to both of their colleagues, attempting to get them on board.
“There have been constant and just about every senator has been talking to both senators — to Senator Manchin and to Senator Sinema about how important these issues are, not only to our caucus, to our country. Senators are going up to them and saying, ‘I’ll lose my election if they — you allow these changes to occur,’” Schumer told CNN’s “New Day,” via The Hill.
“The bottom line is this: they must allow us to pass these two vital pieces of legislation, even if not a single Republican joins us.”
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) expressed support for Schumer’s agenda. “I fully support Schumer saying there’s a deadline and it’s the 17th. …He believes we need deadlines,” Durbin told The Hill.
He did admit, however, that getting them to vote with the rest of the caucus would be challenging. “You’ll never know until you have the vote, frankly, and I hope that they will be on board,” Durbin said. “We’ve spent month after month after month with both of them. … We’re trying to convince both of them, give us a fair chance to deal with voting rights.”
Manchin signaled to reporters Tuesday that he was not in favor of any significant changes to the filibuster, including invoking the “nuclear option” to remove the legislative filibuster completely. “[I’ve] always been for rules [changes] being done the way we’ve always done them, two-thirds of members voting, and any way you can do a rules change to where everyone is involved, and basically that’s a rule that usually will stay, that’s what we should be pursuing,” Manchin said.
“[Being] open to a rules change that would create a nuclear option, it’s very, very difficult. It’s a heavy lift,” Manchin said.