But really, I started this thread to show another and better Democratic value on display: the ability to have a debate and discuss how to fix our broken Senate.
The pivotal West Virginia Democrat is also open to using budget reconciliation to pass voting reforms.
www.politico.com
Sen. Joe Manchin said Sunday he is open to altering the Senate filibuster to make it more “painful” for the minority party to wield, while reiterating his opposition to ending the procedural hurdle altogether.
“The filibuster should be painful, it really should be painful and we've made it more comfortable over the years,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Maybe it has to be more painful.”
Manchin (D-W.Va.) has previously supported efforts to require senators to filibuster by talking on the chamber floor in order to hold up a bill, an idea he raised on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“If you want to make it a little bit more painful, make him stand there and talk,” Manchin said. “I'm willing to look at any way we can, but I'm not willing to take away the involvement of the minority.”
Joe Manchin. I'd hate him if he were my Senator. But he is not. He's West Virginia's guy. Most West Virginians love him. That's democracy for you. I expect my Senators (Wyden and Merkley) to work with him.
Prior to 1990's, the filibuster was rarely used. Today, it's the go-to tool of Republicans whenever they want to stop something. They made the filibuster easy to use -- a Senator simply checks off a box on a computer screen and all by himself he can stop a bill from proceeding through the senate. Some Democrats want to eliminate the filibuster altogether. Manchin supports a limited filibuster because he believes those in the political minority should have a voice in the making of our laws. He's willing to make changes but not eliminate it. In other words, he wants a debate about what to do and why. Democrats are listening and reacting to this by having a discussion. Such a different reaction compared to what Trump's Republicans did when they held power.
Despite high sounding words about how the filibuster protects the rights of a minority, it has mostly been used to stop civil rights legislation.
Two of the most famous uses of the movie-version filibuster mentioned above were by the segregationist senator Strom Thurmond, who in 1957 held the Senate floor for more than 24 hours in an attempt to block civil rights legislation – and who mounted a sequel filibuster to sequel legislation in 1964.
“For generations, the filibuster was used as a tool to block progress on racial justice,” Senator Elizabeth Warren, who is eager to bin the filibuster, told the National Action Network in 2019. “And in recent years, it’s been used by the far right as a tool to block progress on everything.”
So, yeah, saying the filibuster is needed to protect democracy and freedom is bullshit.
Republicans -- Trump's Republicans -- only care about defeating Democrats. They will use the filibuster to prevent Joe Biden and Democrats from fulfilling promises to properly manage the US's recovery from the Covid epidemic and when the epidemic is over, to bring back jobs lost due to the epidemic. To them, its all about power. Stop Democrats from helping people so they can take away the Senate or the House in 2022. One could say that Republicans are why we need to end the filibuster.
With GOP partisan use of the filibuster hanging as a threat to Democratic lawmakers who are trying to get help to where it is needed in this disaster.
With GOP partisan use of the filibuster as a tool to re-take power in Washington.
With GOP attempting to overthrow the US government just weeks away as an example of why we can't let that happen.
With all that hanging as a threat, Democrats are engaging in a debate about the filibuster, what it's good for and how to keep what's best while getting rid of the bad. Despite a very real threat from Republicans to dismantle our democracy if they ever gain power again. Democrats are having a thoughtful discussion on what is best for this country and how to make progress while protecting our democracy.
That is leadership.