Weathervane conservaDem Sen. Joe Manchin (?- WV) is at it again with an op/ed in today's Washington Post (which we won't link to). Basically he states that he won't support an end or changes to the Jim Crow filibuster rule in the Senate because he wants "bipartisanship." Having obviously slept through the Obama Administration, Manchin wants us to believe that there are Republicans who are willing to cross the aisle and work with Democrats on major legislation like voting rights and infrastructure (or at least 10 of them, to allow cloture).
A veteran of filibuster wars and one of our heroes, former Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), published what amounts to a prebuttal of Manchin's argument back on March 24. In it, he explains why the filibuster and "bipartisanship" are two separate issues, from a practical and historical perspective. Here are brief excerpts:
As discussion of reforming the filibuster has picked up, a myth has sprouted up alongside it. This myth says the filibuster is the primary key to bipartisanship in the U.S. Senate. Reform the filibuster, or worse do away with it completely, and bipartisanship will become extinct, according to the myth.
It’s time to bust that myth. I know firsthand how bipartisanship actually works in the Senate, and I can attest that the filibuster is not an essential ingredient to bipartisanship. Full stop.
To have bipartisanship, some members from both parties need to agree on what the problem is and on how to solve it. If this doesn’t happen, there will be no bipartisanship whether the filibuster is on the table or not. I spent eight years working with Sen. John McCain to advance and negotiate one of the last comprehensive bipartisan pieces of legislation to be enacted — the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform act of 2002 — and the filibuster was an obstacle, not an assist, in the process. [snip]
Today, Democrats and Republicans do not agree on what the problem is, let alone what the solution is, when it comes to critical issues including voting rights, labor rights, climate change, or immigration. Keeping the filibuster in its current form will not change this, but it will almost certainly prevent any legislation on these issues from passing.
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s sudden defense of the filibuster as necessary for bipartisanship is a rewriting of history. [snip]
The filibuster is a Senate rule that empowers a minority of senators to thwart the will of a majority of senators. That’s its purpose and its power.
There is no bipartisan-inducing power to the number 60. The filibuster would be just as effective at thwarting a bill backed by 25 Democrats and 26 Republicans as it is at thwarting a bill backed by 51 senators of the same party. The current Senate could achieve bipartisanship with 51 senators, or even 55 or 56. And yet in such an instance of bipartisanship, the filibuster would still be lethal, just as it was for many years with McCain-Feingold. [snip]
The GOP’s perpetuation of the myth that the filibuster inspires bipartisanship is mere subterfuge. To achieve 60 votes on critical issues like voting rights or immigration in today’s hyperpartisan world, a bill would likely consist of little more than the effective date, as McConnell sought with McCain-Feingold.
The filibuster should be reformed, and bipartisanship should be pursued. These are separate issues and separate discussions. One should happen soon. The other is an ongoing struggle that involves senators and their voters, not Senate procedure.
We don't know what Manchin's (and Sen. Sinema for that matter) play is, but we know that unless his views are somehow more nuanced than they appear on the surface, it will put him squarely in the obstructionist caucus now populated exclusively by the 50- member Republican Senate contingent. Maybe he needs to have a "come to Russ" moment?
In the meantime, a few reactions to Manchin's latest pronouncement:
“There is bipartisan support for voting reform,” Manchin writes, as Republicans introduce 361 bills to restrict voting rights in 47 states https://t.co/TdztZIRJEM
— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) April 8, 2021
Joe Manchin represents a state that is 1/22 the population of California & 92% white yet he can singlehandedly block policies supported by 70-80% of Americans. This is why the US Senate is so broken
— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) April 8, 2021
Manchin is setting himself up to be Mr. Gridlock. He's putting himself on the hook to deliver 10 GOP votes on everything. When he fails, as he will, he'll be the one blocking broadly popular policies that improve people's lives & which Dems must pass to hold the majority in 2022.
— Adam Jentleson 🎈 (@AJentleson) April 8, 2021
Manchin is right that democracy reforms have broad bipartisan support. Just not in the senate. Ultimately there’s not much new in his op-ed - it’s all talk until the vote is called. Like all politicians, he’ll stick his finger in the wind, and it’s up to us to change the weather. https://t.co/JjgLMDmv3z
— Ezra Levin (@ezralevin) April 8, 2021
And, from that same Adam Jentleson who literally wrote the book on the filibuster, this primer that even Joe Manchin might understand:
Mitch McConnell says the filibuster is ‘the essence of the Senate.’ Other Republicans say it’s how the framers envisioned the Senate and that it has a noble place in governing.
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) April 7, 2021
That’s all BS, says @AJentleson pic.twitter.com/Usn70ohxl9
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