Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) snapped at a reporter this week who asked him if he would ever consider ending the filibuster after he has repeatedly stated that he is not open to it.
“Pressure on Democrats from progressives to kill the filibuster is sure to mount as the party’s unfulfilled promises pile up,” Politico reported. “But lest we need a reminder, Sen. Joe Manchin, when asked Monday whether he’d ever change his mind on changing the supermajority rule, barked ‘NEVER!’ in response.”
“JESUS CHRIST! What don’t you understand about NEVER?!” Manchin continued, according to Politico.
Manchin slammed President Joe Biden last month over the way that he has begun his administration, saying that the party “started wrong” and that Biden was going in the “wrong” direction by being “strictly partisan.”
When asked during a CNN interview earlier this year whether he would support ending the filibuster, Manchin responded that he would “be no on that.”
Manchin told Fox News in an interview last year that he was not open to eliminating the filibuster, remarks that he made in advance of the Senate runoff races in Georgia.
“So, I commit to you tonight and I commit to all of your viewers and everyone else that’s watching, I want to lay those fears, I want to rest those fears for you right now, because, when they talk about whether it be packing the courts or ending the filibuster, I will not vote to do that,” Manchin continued. “I will not vote to pack the courts. I think — and I will not vote to end the filibuster. Bret, this system, the Senate, this so unique body in the world, it was made to work together in a bipartisan way. And once you start breaking down those barriers, then you lose every reason that we are the institution that we are, the most deliberative body.”
“So, I want to lay those fears to rest, that that won’t happen, because I will not be the 50th Democrat voting to end that filibuster or to basically stack the court,” Manchin added. “And then all the other things you’re hearing about, Bret, also, is — defund the police. I don’t know of any of the Democrats in the caucus that are for defunding the police. We are not for that whatsoever. And when they talk about basically Medicare for All, we can’t even pay for Medicare for some. It doesn’t make any sense at all. We have got to fix the Affordable Care Act we have. And I think our Republican — moderate Republicans will work with us to now repair what needs to be repaired.”
Sen. Krysten Sinema (D-AZ) also opposes ending the legislative filibuster, which would allow bills to be passed with a simple majority instead of 60 votes, and “is not open to changing her mind about eliminating the filibuster.”