During an interview that aired live on CNN, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) discussed the Democrats’ ongoing negotiations to pass voting rights legislation.
Manchin revealed that talks are ongoing, but he is “not agreeing” to a filibuster carveout in the bill.
“Let me just say that being open to the rules change that would create a nuclear option, it’s a very, very difficult, and it’s a heavy lift. And the reason I say it’s a heavy lift is that once you change a rule or you have a carveout, I have always said this — any time that’s a carveout, you eat the whole turkey. There’s nothing left because it comes back and forth. So, you want things that will be sustainable. That’s what you’re looking for. So, that common sense commonality, but, you know, I just believe that the bedrock of democracy is voting. And we have to do what we can in order to preserve that. But let’s just see. The conversations are still ongoing. I have been talking to everybody. We have been having good conversations … since we left two weeks ago.”
Manchin was asked if he was willing to change the 60-vote threshold.
“There’s basically the need for us to protect democracy as we know it, and the Senate, as it has operated for 232 years, are extremely, extremely high bars that we must be very careful that we’re willing to cross those,” he replied. “So, I’m talking. I’m not agreeing to any of this to the extent. I want to talk and see all of the options we have open, and that’s what we’re looking at.”
Manchin continued, “We’ve talked about talking filibusters, and we continue to talk about this. It’s very interesting. We talk about the motion to proceed. We should be able to get it on the bill. It should be independent. And we talk about also the ability to restore some privileges to the committees. They have some weights, so something comes out of committee. And I think these are things that Republicans and Democrats should and could agree on.”
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