(TheLibertyRevolution.com)- Democrats are up in arms after moderate Senator Joe Manchin said he wouldn’t support the progressive For the People Act.
The Democratic senator from West Virginia said he couldn’t support the bill because it would deliver a “partisan advantage” in future elections to Democrats. On Sunday, he wrote an op-ed in the Charleston Gazette-Mail that read:
“Of course, some in my party have argued that now is the time to discard such bipartisan voting reforms and embrace election reforms and policies solely supported by one part. Respectfully, I do not agree.
“I believe that partisan voting legislation will destroy the already weakening binds of our democracy, and for that reason, I will vote against the For the People Act.”
With Manchin saying he won’t support the bill, Democrats are going to have a very hard time garnering enough votes to avoid the filibuster. To pass legislation through the Senate, a bill needs to get at least 60 votes, not just a simple majority of 51.
Manchin has been a thorn in the sides of Democrats who are trying to push through an extremely liberal agenda under President Joe Biden. They’ve already used the budget reconciliation process to pass a multi-trillion-dollar economic stimulus package earlier this year, and they were hoping to use that process for future spending bills, too.
There was even talk of Democrats trying to get rid of the filibuster in the Senate, but that seems unlikely since Manchin also doesn’t support that. Without the support of all 50 Democrats in the Senate, it makes it difficult to even get a majority, let alone the 60 votes needed to avoid the filibuster.
Manchin criticized the bill’s extremely one-sided aspects, writing:
“This more than 800-page bill has garnered zero Republican support. Why? Are the very Republican senators who voted to impeach Trump because of actions that led to an attack on our democracy unwilling to support actions to strengthen our democracy? Are these same senators, whom many in my party applauded for their courage, now threats to the very democracy we seek to protect?
“The truth, I would argue, is that voting and election reform that is done in a partisan manner will all but ensure partisan divisions continue to deepen.
“With that in mind, some Democrats have again proposed eliminating the Senate filibuster rule in order to pass the For the People Act with only Democratic support. They’ve attempted to demonize the filibuster and conveniently ignore how it has been critical to protecting the rights of Democrats in the past.
“Furthermore, I will not vote to weaken or eliminate the filibuster.”
Manchin did admit that the filibuster holds up legislation at times, but it’s the right way to go about business in the Senate, he said.
He has reminded Democrats in the past about how liberals worked to remove the filibuster requirement for confirmation hearings for Supreme Court justices. And, under former President Donald Trump, Republicans were able to force through three confirmations to the high court because of that.
In other words, be careful what you wish for.
