Why Manchin is throwing a monkey wrench in Biden's agenda

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin on Sunday defended his decision to vote against a sweeping voting rights bill and reiterated his opposition to gutting the filibuster, declaring in the strongest terms yet that he is not willing to change Senate rules to help his party push through much of President Joe Biden's agenda.
"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. Furthermore, I will not vote to weaken or eliminate the filibuster," Manchin, a moderate Democrat from West Virginia, wrote in an op-ed published in the Charleston Gazette.
Manchin's opposition to changing filibuster rules stands as a major roadblock to Biden's legislative priorities, as current rules allow Republicans to hold up many of the progressive bills the administration supports, including infrastructure spending, federal voting legislation and climate change legislation.
The senator asserted that "the fundamental right to vote has itself become overtly politicized," and -- taking aim at members of his party -- said some Democrats have "attempted to demonize the filibuster and conveniently ignore how it has been critical to protecting the rights of Democrats in the past."

#BriannaKeilar #CNN #NewDay

[kikyochan]

I don’t understand why Manchin bothers to be a Democrat, he should join the Republican Party

[ThreeIdiotsInaVan]

If you insist on keeping the filibuster, then you should be required to stand up and talk and talk and talk like they used to. It's easy to just say "no." It's harder to keep talking for hours on end. It's harder to visibly gum up the works. You can't do anything else until the filibusterers stop talking. There needs to be SOME cost to using the filibuster.

[B_Bodziak]

In his op-ed in the NYT, he made zero comments about any actual talking points of the Act. He offered no pros & only GOP points.

[jacobedward]

"Joe Manchin may be the only Democrat who can win in West Virginia"

Except he's basically a Republican, so why do the Democrats even waste campaign money on him? If he's so popular in WV, let him run as an independent.

[chuckmsf]

Why Manchin is throwing a monkey wrench in the works? follow the money !

[McLKeith]

Yet Manchin says nothing about Mitch McConnell's destroying bipartisanship from the last four years, at least.

[ryanmalone]

Why does he not make a decision based on the actual details of the bill? All he is talking about is bipartisanship. What about the actual content???

[mrv]

he is a fool he's made it that mitch has no reason to even consider negotiating in good faith he will become the most hated person in dem party

[murryjm]

I don’t think Manchin is a Democrat or a Republican. I think Manchin is a “Good ‘Ol Boy”...

[winterszhuzhupets]

Having voter ID does not hurt black voters and 16 year old should never be allowed to vote

[robert]

Infrastructure has bipartisan support but Joe's infrastructure plan doesn't have bipartisan support.

[barbaracarpenter]

If he loves the country he has a strange way of showing it. Like an abusive relationship, "I blacked your eyes and broke your arm because I love you!!"
Sound ok to anybody?

[CJDcow]

You guys realize that Republican voters made the Joe Manchin a senator, correct?

[emsleywyatt]

"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
MLK

[HayK]

The Constitution provides that the states have the authority to determine how to run their elections. If passed, this law would be ruled unconstitutional immediately anyway.

[Dreymasmith]

Manchin says he doesn't want partisan legislation. But the voter suppression laws being passed across the US _are_ partisan. The For the People Act seeks to address that and to make voting rights bipartisan again.

[zenmasta]

How dare Manchin not agree with to help the Democrats continue manipulating elections.

[chasemichael]

"We can't let voting rights legislation be partisan. Therefore, I will allow states to ram through partisan voter suppression legislation."

-Joe Manchin

[melindamcafee]

Does Joe Manchin know that McConnell has had the Joe Lewis bill on his desk for a long time and refuses to bring the bill to the floor? This makes no sense!

[georl]

If Sen. Joe Manchin is right about keeping the filibuster, then the only solution is to make sure there are more Democrats elected at the mid-term elections to overtake the 60 votes majority needed to pass bills. The Dems had better get their butts moving to achieve that goal.