Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

DeSantis transforms Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

After roe, women are no longer free.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

You cannot shame the shameless.

This really is a full service blog.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

People are complicated. Love is not.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

So many bastards, so little time.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

You are here: Home / 2024 Elections / Hill Squawking (Open Thread)

Hill Squawking (Open Thread)

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As we know, Chuck Schumer scheduled a debate on doing a filibuster carveout to pass voting rights this month. When reporters asked for his thoughts about the prospect of reform, Joe Manchin disemboweled a sacrificial animal and read the steaming entrails to divine his own opinion:

“Being open to a rules change that would create a nuclear option,* it’s very, very difficult. It’s a heavy lift,” Manchin told reporters when asked about using the “nuclear option,” in which Democrats would change the 60-vote legislative filibuster on their own.

“I’m talking. I’m not agreeing to any of this. … I want to talk and see all the options we have open,” Manchin said, adding that it was his “preference” that any rule changes have Republican support.

Blah blah blah. No one but his donors know what that lunkhead will do. Chuck Schumer either doesn’t know or is dissembling:

Hopefully he’s right since our democracy literally depends on it. Let’s also hope the president weighs in early and often in this fight. The bully pulpit has its limits, but it’s not nothing.

Meanwhile, Mitch McConnell continued to NOT spontaneously combust and then run screaming and in flames in panicked circles under the Rotunda before collapsing into a smoldering heap due to white hot hypocrisy despite labeling the attempt to create a filibuster carveout to protect elections “genuine radicalism.” He also said this:

Good on Semrau for adding that very salient context. As I shared in a comment in the morning thread, I’m not super optimistic that we’ll get voting reform done. But we’ve got to try.

Open thread.

*PS: Fuck whoever came up with the term “nuclear option.” And fuck Manchin for repeating it in this context. I’d have more respect for the man if he said, “Look, the people who funnel millions of dollars into my (and my family’s) pockets think it’s better for business if the US Senate is paralyzed, so the filibuster stays.”

Reader Interactions

115Comments

  1. 1.

    Old School

    We must keep the filibuster rules as what was originally written in the constitution.  Otherwise, people will get the impression that the filibuster is arbitrary and that the rules have been changed multiple times over the years.

  3. 3.

    Ryan

    “When reporters asked for his thoughts about the prospect of reform, Joe Manchin disemboweled a sacrificial animal and read the steaming entrails to divine his own opinion:”

    We’re referring to Chuck Schumer right? Or are we referring to preznit Biden?

  6. 6.

    Yarrow

    There has to be some dirt on Manchin that he doesn’t want made public. It’s time for someone to use that information to ‘encourage’ him to “see all the options [he has] open.”

  7. 7.

    Starfish

    Can we start talking about Manchin being Nero fiddling while Rome burns by allowing Republicans to undermine the Democratic process, by stopping most possible climate legislation, and by throwing poor kids back into poverty all too bring Republicans into a process that they have completely refused to engage in.

  8. 8.

    Another Scott

    The reporting on this stuff continues to be horrible. E.g. RollCall:

    […]

    Under regular order, a two-thirds vote of the Senate would be required to get past a filibuster to change the rules themselves. But, as has been done in the past, a simple majority could change Senate precedents.

    Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has long made campaign finance law one of his top priorities, has continued to say that the federal government shouldn’t play an increased role in setting local election regulations.

    “Each state ought to craft its own election rules, with one exception, the Voting Rights Act. It’s against the law to discriminate against people in the voting process on the basis of race. No one is doing that. If they do, it’s against the law and can be prosecuted,” McConnell said last month on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show. “There is no rationale for the federal takeover of elections, other than Democrats want to make it easier to cheat, frankly. They want to make sure states can’t have photo ID at the polls, they want to guarantee that states can have what’s called ballot harvesting. That’s where you run around picking up other people’s votes for them and turn them in.”

    Members of the Democratic caucus continued to discuss potential rules changes over the holiday recess, according to a Democratic aide. Those talks are likely to lead to a debate on the floor ahead of the Jan. 17 holiday to honor King.

    (Emphasis added.)

    Yes, that’s what the story says – I didn’t change a word. It’s up there with “To Serve Man”…

    Just flabbergasting.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  9. 9.

    Kay

    @Another Scott:

    It’s nonsense anyway. There’s a whole group of federal laws that apply to voting- HAVA, the ADA, motor voter, etc.

    They’re just reprinting his lies. He’s incorrect, and deliberately so.

  10. 10.

    Hildebrand

    Good lord – I just wish Manchin would tell everyone what he actually wants so that we don’t have to continue to play this ridiculous game.  While his ultimate answers are sure to be terrible, the dithering, posturing, and right-angle knavery is even worse.

  11. 11.

    Old Man Shadow

    But you guys! If we change the filibuster, then Mitch McConnel might get rid of it altogether!!!!!!!!!!

    Rolls eyes. Makes wanking motion. 

  13. 13.

    James E Powell

    “It’s a heavy lift,” Manchin told reporters

    But not as heavy as lifting Manchin’s ego.

  15. 15.

    Kay

    Mitch McConnell knows this and so do all the reporters asking him about voting, so I’m wondering why they’re just transcribing his bullshit day after day:

    Mark Finchem was at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.He says he didn’t go inside, but he snapped some photos of people who did.“What happens when the People feel they have been ignored, and Congress refuses to acknowledge rampant fraud. #stopthesteal,” he tweeted. The Arizona state representative was there to share what he called “evidence” of an “irredeemably compromised” 2020 election with Republican lawmakers from his home state of Arizona. To be clear, Republican election officials in the state deemed the results “free, fair, and accurate” and even a discredited GOP-led “audit” run in the state’s largest county agreed Biden won. More recently, Finchem also appeared at a QAnon conference, and in speaking with NPR declined to describe what happened at the Capitol as a riot or an insurrection, instead making allusions to a sort of conspiracy involving law enforcement. Now, he is running to oversee voting in Arizona in 2022. And he’s not alone. An NPR analysis of 2022 Secretary of State races across the country found at least 15 Republican candidates running who question the legitimacy of President Biden’s 2020 win, even though no evidence of widespread fraud has been uncovered about the race over the last 14 months. In fact, claims of any sort of fraud that swung the election have been explicitly refuted in state after state, including those run by Republicans.

    These are the people Republican voters will put in charge of elections. It will be an absolute shit show.
    No one can pretend they weren’t warned. We all know what will happen.

    They’re telling us over and over they plan to overturn elections, and are putting those plans into action. They could not make it more clear.

  16. 16.

    hueyplong

    @Hildebrand: We’d expect Manchin to tell us what he wants if he were dealing in good faith.

    Manchin’s own statement notwithstanding, the actual heavy lifting is being done by the word “if” above.

  18. 18.

    Kay

    I just wish we could prevent ONE catastrophe in this country. Just one.

    They all told us for the last year they plan to void elections results when they lose, their candidates are running on promises to void election results, their cult leader tells them every day to void election results yet WHEN THAT HAPPENS we will all feign surprise.

    It’s like being chained to people who would prefer to die in a fire rather than spend 20 dollars on a smoke alarm. I just don’t know why we have to suffer this much, why we all have to pretend that this chaos and craziness is inevitable and must be borne.

    2024 will be a completely avoidable catastrophe. Another one.

  19. 19.

    Mike in NC

    @Ryan: We recently learned that Bob Dole was also a very big fan of Strom Thurmond. In other words, a dickhead.

  20. 20.

    Leto

    @Kay:

    These are the people Republican voters will legislatures have put in charge of elections. It will be an absolute shit show.

    FTFY. They’ve already done this. In GA:
    Republicans are booting Black Democrats from Georgia’s county election boards: report This comes months after Georgia passed an anti-voting bill shifting electoral control to the partisan legislature

    They’ve already done it in a few counties in Michigan, including the one that includes Detroit. Like you said, they’re continually telling us they’re doing it. They told us they’d do it, they passed laws to do it, then they did it.

  21. 21.

    hueyplong

    @Kay: Have seen a cartoon a few times on the internet in which someone says:

    1 Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it.

    2 Those who do study history are doomed to stand by helplessly while everybody else repeats it.

    You’re looking a little like item 2.

  22. 22.

    The Dangerman

    Mitch, come sit next to me for a moment. After I shower. After we talk, I’ll shower again, I promise.

    If it is unthinkable that a legislature would overturn the election, why in the fuck would you need to have the right to do so?

    Imagine: Election 2024 and it’s damn close; if any one State Legislature flips, it will flip the election, I guarantee they will do it because they won’t want a bunch of redneck fucks (is that redundant?) threatening their lives.

  23. 23.

    Leto

    Here’s an article from the FTFNYT from Jul of last year covering GA, AZ, AR, and KS:

    How Republican States Are Expanding Their Power Over Elections In Georgia, Republicans are removing Democrats of color from local boards. In Arkansas, they have stripped election control from county authorities. And they are expanding their election power in many other states.

    They stated their intentions, and they’re carrying them out. Nicole Wallace’s A segment today is covering this right now.

  25. 25.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @The Dangerman: That’s basically how the conservatives killed the first Reconstruction, in the 1870s.

    Right down to the Wilmington Coup of 1898. <sigh>

    This business of watching helplessly as history repeats thanks to conservatives kinda sucks.

  26. 26.

    sdhays

    “Creating a nuclear option…”

    LOL. The “nuclear option” has always been there. It exists today. Indeed, it has already been invoked many times, just for judges. It will be invoked for legislation eventually, too. The only reason it’s gotten this far is because of the stupid reconciliation process, which, let’s face it, was just the first invocation of the “nuclear option” because shit wasn’t getting done. The only questions now are: 1) by whom, 2) for what reason, and 3) when. I would prefer it to be 1) by the Democrats, 2) for voting rights, and 3) very soon.

    You have to have your head pretty far up your own (or someone else’s) ass not to see that, but Manchinema unfortunately fit that description.

  27. 27.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Well, I guess everyone better just plan their emigration strategies and/or stock up on ammunition, right?

  29. 29.

    Baud

    We know what Manchin is so I’m not going to waste another year paying attention to him. He’s Schumer’s problem to deal with.

  30. 30.

    JPL

    @The Dangerman: Mitch who also blocked Obama’s Supreme Court, because it was an election year.   He’s admitted that Biden will get no more judges through if he is majority leader.  He has no credibility.

  32. 32.

    Benw

    @Kay: @Leto: they tried AZ too, but that one at least failed (so far). IMO it makes Democrats holding the House critical in these 2022 midterms. We have to turn people out again this year!

  33. 33.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Hildebrand:

    I just wish Manchin would tell everyone what he actually wants

    My guess is, to ride the power trip of being the person whose decision controls what the Senate can do.  He gets to demand flattery and enforce his whims.  The episode where he whined about not being respected gave me that impression.

    Regardless, Schumer knows a lot that we don’t.  Unfortunately, he doesn’t have Nancy’s ‘only schedule a vote I know I can win’ philosophy.

  40. 40.

    Jinchi

    @Poe Larity: ​Amarillo got Dallas’s normal temperatures, Dallas got Corpus Christi’s normal temperatures, and Austin got Brownsville’s normal temperatures

    Kind of weird that none of them got Mexico’s normal temperatures. I guess the wall worked after all.

  41. 41.

    Mai Naem mobile

    Manchin is just running out the clock. They did the same with Obama. One of the reasons Obama didn’t get more done was because of the GOP first ofcourse but also all the conservative Dems who dragged out ACA negotiations. By the time the ACA was done there was not enough time to do immigration reform. Manchin is just your 2022 flavor of Lieberman/Nelson/Bayh/Lincoln/Landrieu.

  42. 42.

    Emerald

    Manchin is conducting a bidding war. He’ll vote for it, but he wants to squeeze out the maximum price possible. There’s really no other rational explanation, imho. I’ve always thought we should find out what the other side’s offering and double it. Don’t care if it’s a billion. Or, easier, just offer him a billion and have done with it. Democracy is worth it.

    I dunno about Sinema, but it looks like a pretty similar operation on her part. Maybe she’s just letting Manchin do the negotiating.

  45. 45.

    HeleninEire

    @Baud: Agree. Everytime I see a Manchin story/post I scroll right by. Cuz it’s always the same story. Maybe, Maybe not, Maybe, Maybe not. “I am very conflicted.”

    Same shit every day.

  46. 46.

    trollhattan

    The county updates the Covid lab test page weekly, and today’s is a doozy. Our positivity rate went from about 6% to 16%, daily new cases approaching 2,000 (old record from Dec ’20 around 1,300).

    The kicker is omicron is still a blip in the data and nearly all new cases are delta. If it’s this bad now, what happens when omicron hits like it is elsewhere? Maybe some of the un-vaccinated will take this shiny quarter and buy a clue.

    No party, no disco, no foolin’ around.

  47. 47.

    Kay

    @schrodingers_cat:

    It’s a political post. The post at the top is about how Schumer isn’t confident Manchin will allow voting rights legislation to be passed. There may be a way to spin that to flowers and unicorns, but why would we?  Are we speakers at a campaign rally?

    I suppose we could ban political posts unless they’re good news, but that’s a campaign website and we already have those.

  48. 48.

    Jinchi

    @Mai Naem mobile:Manchin is just running out the clock.

    True. Manchin could literally just say, “There’s no way in hell that I’ll pass the voting rights bill”, but then he’d lose all his power. It’s only by dangling the hope of action that people bother talking with him.

    When they dropped their efforts to pass the Build Back Better bill, one of the arguments was that it was more important to pass a voting rights bill… As though one thing had anything to do with the other. These bills would be easy to pass if Manchin wanted them passed at all.

    It would have been better if they had said they were dropping their efforts to pass BBB, because it was more important for Biden to focus on drafting new coal mining regulations.

  50. 50.

    HeleninEire

    @Baud: Did you see that when John Cole was asked about his favorite commenter he said “Baud makes me laugh every day.”

    Yup. Me too.

  53. 53.

    Kay

    @Jinchi:

    I still think they’ll pass it. It’s not like BBB. It directly effects Democrats chances of retaining their seats and competing in senate races in Ohio and Pennsylvania and Georgia. They cannot break that promise with that part of their base. They’ll lose.

    It’s not Schumer v Manchin- if it were I wouldn’t be at all confident. It’s every Democratic Senator versus Manchin. That’s where the pressure will come from.

  56. 56.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Kay: Which means that those of us with at least one Democrat Senator should be calling them to encourage them to pressure him.

  58. 58.

    Jinchi

    @Kay: It’s not like BBB. It directly effects Democrats chances of retaining their seats and competing in senate races in Ohio and Pennsylvania and Georgia.

    I’m not convinced Manchin wants the Democrats to keep the majority. He’s made it significantly more likely that they’ll lose by keeping up his “will-he? won’t-he?” game.

    His actions keeps these bills on the front pages every day and every day they fail to pass is considered a new failure for the Democrats.

  62. 62.

    sdhays

    @Jinchi: I just think he’s not very bright and doesn’t have a concrete vision of what he should want beyond relaxing on his yacht with both Lindsey Graham and Dianne Feinstein. It makes it hard to negotiate with someone like that.

  65. 65.

    Benw

    @Baud: don’t be so hard on yourself! That bus-full of baby pandas were probably going to die anyway for other… non-Baud related… reasons….

  66. 66.

    Kay

    @schrodingers_cat:

    It’s not stopping me from commenting, obviously. Every single political post turns into complaints about “doom”. That’s not commenting on politics. It’s commenting on the other people who are talking about politics. If it were even posting something political that was optimistic, but it’s not. It’s commentary on the commentary.

  68. 68.

    Baud

    @Benw:

    “They were going to die at some point anyway” is a very useful motivational mantra for a number of situations.

  70. 70.

    Jinchi

    @Omnes Omnibus: What does putting to a vote and losing do for us?

    If the bill is going to fail anyway, it’s important for Democrats to get members on the record.

    • It sets down a marker on issues the Democrats are willing to fight for.
    • It points a finger at where the problem lies: including every Republican Senator who also opposes voting rights.
    • It shuts down Manchin’s game and undermines his status as the great bipartisan dealmaker.
    • The headlines change from “Feckless Democrats” to “Manchin the Backstabber”.

    There are some issues that you have to be willing to push for, even if you’re likely to lose this round.​

  74. 74.

    Chris T.

    @Kay:

    It’s like being chained to people who would prefer to die in a fire rather than spend 20 dollars on a smoke alarm.

    Yes, except (or maybe “and”) half of them are convicted arsonists who right now are flicking their lighters.

  78. 78.

    debbie

    Interesting that the local Fox station reported that Manchin was in communication with Biden over the holidays, and today there’s reporting all over NPR that he hadn’t spoken with Biden since he quit BBB back before Christmas. ?

  79. 79.

    Jinchi

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    The only pressure I’ve seen successfully work against Manchin are attacks on his reputation. He actually cares about that. He doesn’t care if the voting rights bill fails.

    For months he’s been suggesting mild reforms like supporting a “talking filibuster”. Today he goes to the press to declare “any” changes are a heavy lift.

    The path we’re on ends with the voting rights bill in the ash heap. The man who killed BBB on Christmas will string the voting rights bill along right through the next election.

    Schumer has decided there will be a vote on MLK day. I support him on that.

  80. 80.

    HRA

    It is time to put it out to vote and let the chips fall where they may. Otherwise we will have more of the look at me Manchin/Sinema idiocy appearing at will. Neither of them belong in the Democratic Party.

  81. 81.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Jinchi: I also support Schumer on that.   I just think that he is doing it to put pressure on Manchin with an expectation that it will pass.

  83. 83.

    Geminid

    @Jinchi: I don’t think the House version of BBB will be put to a Senate vote as written. The higher SALT exemption is controversial, and Senators like Sanders and Menendez say they intend to modify it so as to give less relief to the wealthiest taxpayers. Senators with tough races may not want to go on record voting for something that will not be enacted anyway. I think Democratic Senators will vote on their own version, whether or nor it  passes.

    But now I see that you are talking about the voting rights bill. So, nevermind.

  84. 84.

    OGLiberal

    @RevRick: Yes, but that involved forgery and NC is stricter around that stuff than other states.

    Who came up with the term “ballot harvesting”?  While the act itself is legal in many states the phrase itself just sounds bad.  While I know what it is it immediately makes me think of Soylent Green – ie, “human harvesting”.  If some Dem operative is the one who came up with the term that person did a terrible marketing job.

    When I was growing up the folks who were always opposed to the school budget used to scour the nursing, assisted living, post-retirement homes and “harvest” absentee ballots from folks who had no connection to the town by scaring them about the evil tax increases that would come if we actually tried to improve the town’s schools.  Back then just about everybody in the town were at least registered as Democrats but the “no money for school” crowd were the “Reagan Dems” who are now hard core Trumpers.  The right perfected this stuff – they’re just pissed now that the Dems figured out how to do it as well.  That’s why it always baffled me with the recent objections from the right about mail-in ballots – historically, they helped the GOP, not the Dems.

  86. 86.

    trollhattan

    @Jinchi:

    Through 1/1/22 the county delta case count is 8,267; omicron case count is 16.

    It hasn’t taken over here yet.

  87. 87.

    Kay

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Every single politics post – the doom policing- and there are much fewer politics posts on BJ now- it’s Anne Laurie and Betty C. Anne Lauries are generally about Republicans (although wonderful) so that leaves Betty C to talk about Democratic politics. I could see it if it was a Biden speech or a fundraiser something but this is the actual subject of the post! It’s about the threat to voting rights!

  88. 88.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @WaterGirl: To be fair, there were contractual reasons why my name couldn’t be used.  You know how some advertisers have to talk about the big game instead of saying Super Bowl?  Like that.  Only more complex.

  90. 90.

    Jinchi

    @Geminid: I don’t think the House version of BBB will be put to a Senate vote as written.

    Sure, but voting rights is different. It’s fundamental to a functioning democracy.

    Few people know what’s in the BBB bill. They’ve only heard it defined by the media in dollar terms (the $3.5 $2.2 $1.75 trillion reconciliation bill). It’s always been a moving target. Manchin could have laid down his marker long ago and negotiated in good faith if he truly wanted it passed and not many would have known the difference.

  91. 91.

    Geminid

    @Jinchi: Yes, my comment was misdirected. My mind was stuck in last month, when people wanted the BBB bill put out of it’s misery.

  96. 96.

    Geminid

    @Baud: Maybe not. In 1858, Ulysses Grant was selling firewood in Saint Louis. Ten years later he was elected President.

  98. 98.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Kay: So your opinion is the gospel truth, anything else is doom policing. As I see  it you are the one doing the policing.

    You were also afraid that Bloomberg was going to win the Democratic primary. So you have been wrong before. You are not infallible.

    Your opinions are just that, opinions and not anymore valid than any commenter’s opinion just because you emphatically repeat them again and again.

  99. 99.

    Kay

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I don’t know what your opinion is on the voting bill. I know what your opinion is of the comments on the voting bill post is- gives you “whiplash” because it’s less optimistic than comments on posts about John’s cat.

    Mine is that it will pass.

  100. 100.

    Kay

    This is Nevada so a different state than Arizona, where the GOP candidate also vows to throw the election to the Republican:

    NV Secretary of State candidate Jim Marchant admits that there is a “coalition of America First Secretary of State candidates around the country” that is working “behind the scenes to try to fix 2020 like President Trump said.”

    They could not make it more clear. So no one should be permitted to feign surprise. They may have been shocked by January 6th, but if the next one is a shock they’re not listening.

  101. 101.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Kay: I think it will pass and some version BBB will also pass.  The version of BBB that passes will disappoint the  Squad and they will vote against it or vote present.

    After the passage of the two bills we will have several lengthy threads about how Manchin sucks and we are doomed to forever Republican rule.

  102. 102.

    stinger

    Just saw Manchin being quoted, something along the lines of “This is sadly a very divided nation, so all the more important that we reach across the aisle and get R votes” (not his exact words). So, Joe, which Rs are you working on? How many? What are you using for pressure/persuasion? Who are you inviting to barbecues on the yacht? Because you did say we.

  103. 103.

    Jinchi

    @schrodingers_cat: ​ I think it will pass and some version BBB will also pass.
     

    Just to be clear, they’ve been trying to pass both these bills for over 6 months. The BBB was being held under special rules that allowed for two reconciliation bills per calendar year. Manchin sabotaged that option. If it passes it will have to take up one of the slots for this year.

    And voting rights is time critical since people will be voting in a few months and lines need to be finalized before then.

    So when do you think these will be passed?

  104. 104.

    Starfish

    @schrodingers_cat: This could turn into a completely pets blog if you would like.

    It gets frustrating to try to discuss real substantive issues when the response is “shut up and clap louder.”

    Tomorrow, my child is going back to school. A tree is down on the school campus due to the high winds that started the fires in Colorado. His teacher will be out due to COVID. Are there enough substitutes in the district for all the teachers out due to COVID or due to losing their homes in the fire? I am skeptical.

    Am I not being enthusiastically supportive enough?

  110. 110.

    Ksmiami

    @HRA: thank you. This. Manchin’s machinations have hurt the Dems and Biden. Enough we know he’s a monster

  111. 111.

    Ksmiami

    @Omnes Omnibus: see Jinchi. The Dems look totally feckless wrt Manchin- stop endlessly catering to him and put the onus on his decisions to either be a decent human or not.

  113. 113.

    Another Scott

    RollCall:

    As senators made their way back to the Capitol Tuesday following a Monday snowstorm that caused travel delays throughout the region, it was unclear whether Democrats would ultimately reach an agreement on any kind of go-it-alone procedural changes.

    But leaving a meeting Tuesday evening, Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., hinted at some of the changes that could be on the table. They include an effort to limit filibusters of motions to proceed to legislation and a requirement for talking filibusters — where objecting senators actually have to hold the floor.

    “We’re just looking at every part of history that we can to find out if there’s something that gives us a pathway forward,” Manchin said. “That you can have a good discussion, and good debate, and then good amendment process.”

    One of the historical examples the West Virginia Democrat cited was the Senate’s debate in the 1970s over whether the three-fifths of senators needed to break a filibuster should be three-fifths of the Senate (60, in most cases) or three-fifths present-and-voting.

    “Three-fifths of voting puts pressure on both sides,” he said. Such a change would make it difficult for objecting senators to simply register their opposition and go home, as is overwhelmingly the case now.

    Manchin should read Mira Ortegon’s piece at the Brennan Center (from August):

    […]

    Critics of the filibuster have pointed to its fundamentally antidemocratic character and its use to block civil rights legislation — most infamously before and during the civil rights era, when southern segregationists used it to block anti-lynching legislation, anti-poll tax legislation, and to delay the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, and 1964.

    But since the 1970s, the filibuster has become part of the normal practice of the Senate. Now it is assumed that 60 votes are needed for most legislation. Its defenders argue that it protects the rights of the minority and forces bipartisan deliberation and compromise, though there little to no evidence of the latter outcome — if anything, the filibuster today is an impediment to compromise.

    The filibuster itself has been changed numerous times. Between 1969 and 2014,  161 exceptions to its supermajority requirement were created. Senate majorities from both parties have approved carve outs and other changes related to executive branch and judicial nominations, budget reconciliation measures, and more. Even the 60-vote threshold has not always been a defining feature of the filibuster. In 1975, the Senate voted to lower the threshold from 67 votes to 60, as one response to the demand for reforms in the aftermath of Watergate.

    Another consequential change in the mid-1970s was adoption of the “two-track” policy, which functionally eliminated the “talking filibuster.” Before this rule change, senators were required to hold the floor to execute a filibuster, blocking all Senate business until a cloture vote could be held. To better utilize time, the new rule established the dual-tracking system, allowing the Senate to work on multiple bills at once. Any bill being filibustered would move to a “back burner” until a cloture vote could be held, while the Senate focused on other bills instead. This change made it easier for a minority to kill a bill by simply indicating a desire to filibuster, thus blocking it before it ever can reach the Senate floor.

    In short, the filibuster has always been subject to revision. Even if there is not support for its full elimination now, there is ample precedent for further modifications that would allow passage of the For the People Act or similar legislation. 

    […]

    (Emphasis added.)

    Something will get done to allow the legislation to pass.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  115. 115.

    Ruckus

    @Emerald:

    If she just lets him pull his strings, she doesn’t have to do jack or shit. She gets what she seems to want, although no one seems to know, including her, what that is. But hemming and hawing seems to be her forte.

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