Sen. Manchin Says Scrapping Filibuster Won’t Make Senate ‘Better’ In New Biden Blow

By NY Post
Posted on 01/11/22 | News Source: NY Post

Moderate Sen. Joe Manchin insisted again Tuesday that he does not support getting rid of the Senate’s legislative filibuster, undercutting President Biden hours before he is expected to call for changes to chamber rules in order to ease the passage of two sweeping election reform bills.

“We need some good rule changes to make the place work better, but getting rid of the filibuster doesn’t make it work better,” Manchin (D-WV) told reporters.

“We need some good rules changes and we can do that together, but you change the rules with two-thirds of the people that are present, so it’s Democrats and Republicans changing the rules to make the place work better,” he reiterated. “Getting rid of the filibuster does not make it work better.”

Manchin and fellow centrist Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) are facing increasing pressure from Democratic leaders to support making an exception to the 60-vote threshold for the two bills, which are intended to counter laws enacted by Republican-led states that critics say make it harder to vote.​