Democrat Joe Manchin opposes weakening the filibuster

Sen. Joe Manchin has said he will under no circumstances vote to eliminate or weaken the filibuster, and is likely to end the obstacles to passing parts of President Joe Biden’s agenda in Congress with only Democratic votes. bring.

“The time has come to end these political games and usher in a new era of duality, where we find a general basis on the most important policy debates facing our country,” the moderate West Virginia Democrat wrote. in an op-ed published in The Washington Post Wednesday.

The filibuster generally requires legislation to garner 60 votes in the Senate, which is divided equally 50-50 among Democrats and Republicans. Democrats are working on the filibuster – which former president. Barack Obama has named a remnant of Jim Crow – to remove from the filibuster or change it to pass electoral reform legislation.

Manchin has repeatedly said he opposes the elimination of the filibuster, but has recently appeared open to reforms, such as forcing senators calling for a filibuster to speak at length on the Senate floor.

Biden, another proponent of the filibuster, spoke openly about the idea, saying it was how it ‘was when I first came to the Senate in the old days.’

Manchin’s outright rejection of any reform of a filibuster came a day after Senator Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., Another moderate, told The Wall Street Journal that she opposed efforts to ease the rules.

Manchin, who has exaggerated influence due to the unequal divide in the upper chamber of Congress, also said he opposes the regular use of budget reconciliation, a mechanism that enables Congress to pass certain bills by a simple majority. accept.

The $ 1.9 billion Covid bill was passed through reconciliation and the Democrats prepared them to use the process to ensure the implementation of Biden’s $ 2 trillion infrastructure plan. Manchin said he was against the increases in the company’s tax increases.

Manchin wrote that if the filibuster is eliminated or budget reconciliation becomes the norm, a new and dangerous precedent will be set for adopting comprehensive, biased legislation that changes the direction of our country every time there is a change in political control. ‘

“The consequences will be far-reaching – our people may never be able to govern stably again,” Manchin wrote.

“I simply do not believe that budget reconciliation should replace the regular order in the Senate. How is it good for the future of this country?” Manchin added. “Senate Democrats should avoid the temptation to abandon our Republican colleagues on important national issues. However, Republicans have a responsibility to stop saying no and participate in finding a real compromise with the Democrats.”

Manchin said his opposition to the weakening of the filibuster is related to his representation of West Virginia, a small state that exerts influence in the Senate that is disproportionate to its population.

“It is no coincidence that a state as small as West Virginia has the same number of senators as California or Texas. That is the crux of what the representative government is about,” Manchin wrote.

Manchin eliminated the Democratic-led attempt in 2013 to eliminate the filibuster for cabinet and federal judge nominees, and the Republican-led attempt to eliminate it for candidates in the Supreme Court in 2017. Both attempts were successful.

“Every time the Senate has voted in the last ten years to weaken the filibuster, the political dysfunction and the bolt enlargement have gotten worse,” Manchin wrote. “The political games that are taking place in the halls of Congress are arousing the hateful rhetoric and violence we are currently seeing in our country.”