Sunday on MSNBC’s “Velshi,” House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) slammed Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) for voicing his opposition to eliminating the filibuster in the Senate.
Manchin argued in an op-ed that the filibuster has been “critical to protecting the rights of Democrats in the past.”
According to Clyburn, Manchin is “misrepresenting to the public” the purpose of the filibuster. He also said the filibuster “has been used to deny people’s right … to be a part of the Democratic process.”
“I read Senator Manchin’s op-ed this morning, and I think that Senator Manchin is misrepresenting to the public exactly what is going on here. He is not voting against HR-1 when he proposes to continue this filibuster,” Clyburn outlined. “The filibuster is to prevent the head of the Senate, Senator Schumer, to prevent him from limiting the debate and setting the date for an up or down vote. So, Senator Manchin could vote any way he wants to vote on HR-1 or S-1, but he should not be allowing 60 votes to be required so that we could go to a final vote. Senator Manchin said in his op-ed piece this morning that some poor folks who are smarter than he is said certain things. Well, the fact of the matter is I don’t know that I’m smarter than Senator Manchin, but I’m smart enough to know the difference between an up or down vote and a filibuster. And what he is doing is continuing to filibuster the vote and the debate rather than allow Schumer to limit debate and set a date, and that is what we’re trying to do.”
“Please, Mr. Manchin, vote to limit debate so we can set a date and have an up or down vote on whether or not we are going to have a continuation of voting rights in this country,” he pled.
Clyburn later added of the filibuster, “It in fact suppresses democratic processes. That is what it does. There is nothing in the Constitution about a filibuster.”
Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent
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