At least that’s how Sen. Joe Manchin III (W.Va.), the most outspoken Democrat defending the filibuster, has mandated that things should go throughout the spring and summer.
“I haven’t seen an effort by any of our leadership to go sit down and work with them,” Manchin told reporters Tuesday, sharply criticizing Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) for no outreach to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
“Just make that effort. Make a little bit more of an effort with him and Mitch McConnell and make an effort with the leadership. John Thune’s a very good guy. Roy Blunt, I hate to see Roy leaving. These are all good people,” Manchin said, referencing two lieutenants in McConnell’s GOP leadership team.
Manchin was following up on comments he made Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that indicated he might support a proposal to force a “talking filibuster.” Some interpreted that as a willingness by Manchin to eliminate the 60-vote requirement to end debate.
Under a proposal from Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), the minority party would get to hold “extended debate” if the majority does not reach 60 votes, but eventually once the minority stops holding the Senate floor, a simple majority would end debate and move to a final vote.
That’s not how Manchin sees things. He is willing to listen to Democrats who have ideas at reshaping filibuster rules, but Manchin reiterated Tuesday that he believes the 60-vote requirement is what makes the Senate a unique legislative body across the globe.
“At the end of the day, you understand the minority must have input, and it must be a process to get to that 60-vote threshold,” Manchin said.
With those comments from Manchin, smart Democrats and anti-filibuster activists know that any chance at repealing the filibuster will take many more months. They need to bring legislation through committees and to the House and Senate floor, to see whether Republicans are willing to work with Democrats.
The Senate is split 50-50 by party caucus with tie votes broken by Democratic Vice President Harris, who presides over the Senate.
“I think we need some floor experience first. Bring some bills to the floor. Let’s see what happens,” Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) said Tuesday. He suggested that Democrats should move an infrastructure bill next because GOP lawmakers have bad roads and old bridges just like Democrats.
“I think what Joe [Manchin] is looking for is Republican buy-in, participation. And I’m all for that. If there’s one bill that should do it, it’d be infrastructure,” Durbin said.
Biden balked at going that route when it came to his initial relief package, dismissing a group of 10 Senate Republicans who made an initial offer of more than $600 billion in pandemic funding.
The new president had a chance to get a political victory by cleaving McConnell’s caucus apart, possibly setting Republicans up for a bitter divide that could have carried on to other issues. But Democrats believe that would have left them with a package that would have been insufficient for the twin health and economic crises.
Schumer, on CNN on Tuesday night, linked the Republicans’ $600 billion proposal to the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which was reduced to roughly $800 billion at the insistence of three moderate Republicans who provided the crucial votes for its passage.
“Susan Collins was part of that mistake. We cut back on the stimulus dramatically and we stayed in recession for five years,” Schumer said. “What was offered by the Republicans was so far away from what’s needed, so far away from what Biden proposed.”
Collins (R-Maine) took great offense at what she called “bizarre” comments.
“I was one of only three Republicans who joined the Democrats and gave President [Barack] Obama this victory during the financial meltdown,” she told reporters Wednesday, accusing Schumer of still being bitter about her November reelection victory. “And I think it reflects, regrettably, his inability to accept the fact that despite pouring $100 million into defeating me, the people of Maine said no and reelected me.”
This sort of exchange does not bode well for Manchin’s bipartisanship, as Collins is his most frequent Democratic partner.
She believes that, left to his own devices, Biden would have been willing to work with her GOP group. “I have a very good relationship with President Biden, I’ve known him for years. I liked him very much,” Collins said, recalling the 12 years they served together in the Senate. We don’t agree philosophically, but we could certainly work together.”
Instead, those Republicans have taken to blaming not just Schumer but also White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, who they view as a more partisan figure steering Biden away from GOP ideas.
They are even monitoring Klain’s Twitter feed for signs of his internal thinking.
Those Republicans took note Tuesday night when Klain retweeted a reporter’s quotation of Schumer singling out Collins, and they noticed that he retweeted a liberal activist Wednesday who congratulated Biden for including “the bulk of his health care plan” in the relief bill and getting it “rammed through Congress” in less than two months.
Later this year when they approve a budget, Democrats again will have a chance to use the process known as reconciliation, which allowed them to pass the $1.9 trillion plan without any Republican votes.
Until then, they have to try find GOP support for their infrastructure plan, immigration legislation, a major voting rights act and gun laws. If Republicans simply block each of those bills, Democrats hope that Manchin will come around to some modifications of filibuster rules — and the gun issue is particularly close to him, as he is the lead author of the bill to enhance background checks on weapons purchases.
Durbin likes the idea of the “talking filibuster” because it would force those blocking legislation to at least hold the Senate floor through speeches, something that almost never happens now. “You’ve seen people start to filibuster, go home to attend a wedding, take the weekend off and come back on Monday,” he said.
But Manchin is not there yet, certainly not if it means a simple majority vote.
“I make it very clear to everybody. There’s no way that I would vote to prevent the minority from having input into the process in the Senate,” he said. “That means protecting the filibuster.”
