On Tuesday evening, Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) defended the filibuster again while talking with reporters, telling them “I just don’t know how you break a rule to make a rule.”
Manchin was first asked about whether he was open to changing the Senate rules to impose a “talking filibuster.”
“I love the talking filibuster,” Manchin said, but also added that he doesn’t support a simple majority vote threshold for ending debate on legislation. “There’s never been a simple majority vote to basically get off of a debate.”
Senator Chuck Schumer’s latest scheme is to change the rules in the Senate for the Democrats’ voting legislation.
“If the Republicans block cloture on the legislation before us, I will put forward a proposal to change the rules to allow for a talking filibuster on this legislation,” Schumer said.
But it doesn’t look like he’ll get Manchin’s support on this either. “I just don’t know how you break a rule to make a rule. We’ve never done this,” Manchin said.
.@Sen_JoeManchin: "I just don't know how you break a rule to make a rule…The majority of my colleagues in the Democratic caucus, they've changed, they've changed their mind…I haven't…I've never changed my mind on the filibuster. pic.twitter.com/7Byj5e5XDM
— CSPAN (@cspan) January 18, 2022
Manchin also pointed out that when there’s one-party control in the federal government “there’s no checks and balances [without the filibuster] because basically, you can just sweep right through [with legislation] and the same thing can happen if Republicans had control.”
“The majority of my colleagues in the Democratic caucus, they’ve changed, they’ve changed their minds. I respect that. They have a right to change their minds. I haven’t,” Manchin added. “I hope they respect that too. I’ve never changed my mind on the filibuster.”
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