Manchin and the Filibuster

Senator Joe Manchin (D, WV), says he’s against eliminating, or even “weakening,” the Senate’s existing filibuster process. He’s all about protecting bipartisanship, he claims, in a Washington Post op-ed (which is behind a paywall, so I’m citing WSJ‘s cite).

I have said it before and will say it again to remove any shred of doubt: there is no circumstance in which I will vote to eliminate or weaken the filibuster[.]

On the other hand,

Some senators have floated potential changes that stop short of eliminating the filibuster altogether such as bringing back the “talking filibuster,” in which senators must be present and talking on the floor to block bills. That idea has been floated by both President Biden and Mr Manchin.

Manchin chose not to address his support for the “talking filibuster” in his op-ed. It would seem that he considers doing a talking filibuster, to be followed by a strictly party-line floor vote that eliminates all input from the minority party, not to be a weakening of the present filibuster process which blocks legislation altogether unless there’s bipartisan support.

Manchin doublespeak.

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