Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) got a public scolding from President Joe Biden this week for the sin of blocking parts of his agenda by not eliminating the filibuster.
During his speech on the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa, Oklahoma massacre – considered one of the worst incidences of racial terrorism in the United States – Biden said he has been unable to pass a voting rights bill because of “two members” in the U.S. Senate that keep working with Republicans. Asked why he couldn’t get a voting rights bill passed, Biden responded, “Well, because Biden only has a majority of effectively four votes in the House, and a tie in the Senate — with two members of the Senate who voted more with my Republican friends.”
As noted by HuffPost, the comment was a “veiled reference to Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, both of whom have frustrated Democrats with their defense of the filibuster — the rule requiring most legislation to win 60 votes to pass, making many of Democrats’ biggest priorities like voting rights and gun control bills dead on arrival in the 50-50 Senate.” As noted by Truthout, Joe Manchin has criticized aspects of the voting rights bill, known as For the People Act, for being too broad. For the bill to pass, Manchin would have to effectively kill the filibuster. Truthout reported:
Manchin has also insisted that the crucial voting rights bill should be bipartisan, though it is highly unlikely, given the GOP’s current overt stance on the issue, that Democrats could succeed in getting Republicans to sign on to any voting rights. Manchin hasn’t specified how he intends to rally bipartisan support for S.1, seemingly single handedly, but says that onlookers should have “faith” in the Senate.
The January 6 commission was also bipartisan — Democrats made a number of concessions to get Republicans on board — but despite that, the bill to form the commission was blocked by a Republican filibuster. Meanwhile, Manchin’s fellow defender of the filibuster, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Arizona) didn’t even show up for the vote.
Despite his unwillingness to kill the filibuster, Manchin has not exactly cozied up with his Republican colleagues. Following the vote on the January 6 commission, Manchin lamented that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is making his situation “extremely difficult.”
“Mitch McConnell makes it extremely difficult,” Manchin told reporters. “I never thought I’d see it up close and personal that politics could trump our country. And I’m going to fight to save this country.”
Despite all the focus being on Sinema and Manchin, the New York Times recently reported that a small group of silent Democrats have expressed skepticism about killing the filibuster in private.
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