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MANCHIN: "I'm not going to bust a filibuster. If they think they want to jam things down people's throat, no. There's a process. If we can't get 1 or 2 or 3 Republicans to vote with things that we should be doing in a bipartisan-now we need 10-I'm not going down that path...
...and destroy this place. I'm not going to let the Byrd Rule be decimated. I'm not.
And it's explained to me this way...
And it's explained to me this way...
...Bob Byrd says, 'Joe, why do you think Rhode Island has two senators and California [does too]? [What] do you think our Founding Fathers were thinking of...Why do you think we have a filibuster so the minority has input?...
...And why do you think there's a Byrd Rule called after me?
Cuz I knew how they'd try to circumvent and go around and destroy it.'
We're not going to do any of that."
...
Cuz I knew how they'd try to circumvent and go around and destroy it.'
We're not going to do any of that."
...
What Manchin is basically saying here is he won't let the Byrd Rule -- which narrows what is permissible in the filibuster-proof budget reconciliation process to items with direct budgetary impact--get semi-nuked by simple majority votes overruling the Senate parliamentarian...
..and his reasoning is fascinating. He's tying it to the rule's namesake and legendary West Virginia senator Robert Byrd.
Byrd is beloved in West Virginia. But conservatives have long cited Byrd to remind people of the Democrats' historic tie to southern segregationists...
Byrd is beloved in West Virginia. But conservatives have long cited Byrd to remind people of the Democrats' historic tie to southern segregationists...
...Further, many Democrats deride the filibuster, as Obama did, as "Jim Crow relic."
Byrd was one of the segregationists who tried to filibuster the 1964 Civil Rights Act...
Byrd was one of the segregationists who tried to filibuster the 1964 Civil Rights Act...
...and now Manchin is holding up Byrd as the reason why the filibuster should stay in place and the Byrd Rule intact.
Obviously, this will drive progressive opponents of filibuster over the edge. Obviously, Manchin must know that...
Obviously, this will drive progressive opponents of filibuster over the edge. Obviously, Manchin must know that...
...But Manchin is more interested in playing to West Virginia pride than to his progressive critics.
Having said all that...
Having said all that...
...I don't think this means Manchin wouldn't vote for a Covid relief bill on a party-line via reconciliation.
I do think it means Manchin is still very interested in getting Rs on board, and that he won't let the relief bill become a vehicle for other progressive priorities.
I do think it means Manchin is still very interested in getting Rs on board, and that he won't let the relief bill become a vehicle for other progressive priorities.
