Manchin to vote against election overhaul bill
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said he will vote against a sweeping bill to overhaul elections, dubbed the For the People Act, putting the fate of the legislation in jeopardy in the evenly split Senate.
© Greg Nash Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.)
In an op-ed published early Sunday morning in the Charleston Gazette-Mail, Manchin, one of the Senate Democratic Conference's most conservative members, zeroed in on the partisan nature of the legislation, which has not attracted any Republican support.
"I believe that partisan voting legislation will destroy the already weakening blinds of our democracy, and for that reason, I will vote against the For The People Act," Manchin wrote.
"The truth, I would argue, is that voting and election reform that is done in a partisan manner will all but ensure partisan divisions continue to deepen," he added.
Manchin also said he "will not vote to weaken or eliminate the filibuster," which a number of leading Democrats have suggested in order to pass election reform.
He said he will "seek bipartisan compromise no matter how difficult and to develop the political bonds that end divisions and help unite the country we love."
The House in March passed the For the People Act in a 220-210 vote. No House Republicans supported the measure, and one Democrat voted against the legislation.
The bill would require states to offer mail-in ballots, a minimum of 15 days of early voting, and online and same-day voter registration. Additionally, it calls for the creation of independent commissions to draw congressional districts in an effort to put an end to partisan gerrymandering.
It would also provide additional resources to stave off foreign threats on elections, enable automatic voter registration and make Election Day a national holiday for federal workers.
The conversation surrounding election reform in Congress has increased in recent weeks after a number of GOP-led state legislatures have passed restricting voting reform bills.
Manchin in the op-ed urged his colleagues to come together and pass election reform while calling for the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, a bipartisan election reform bill, to be updated and passed through regular order.
Manchin signaled in April that he would not support the For the People Act.
Without Manchin's support for the bill and his opposition to nixing the filibuster, the likelihood of it passing the Senate and landing on President Biden's desk has narrowed.
The legislation appears unlikely to attract the bipartisan 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster or the 50 votes necessary to pass if the party decides to use the nuclear option.
Biden last week appeared to call out Manchin and another moderate Democratic senator, noting that Republicans remain nearly universally opposed to the pieces of legislation and are joined by two Democrats he declined to name.
"I hear all the folks on TV saying, 'Why doesn't Biden get this done?'" he said Tuesday. "Well, because Biden only has a majority of effectively four votes in the House and a tie in the Senate, with two members of the Senate who vote more with my Republican friends."
The comment appeared to be targeted at Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), who have been chief opponents of ending the filibuster to ease Democrats' path to passing legislation in the Senate.
--Updated at 12:17 p.m.
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So, how long before Manchin is primaried? Or will the Democrats rather have him as a Senator vs. a Republican likely winning his seat?
Looks like the Democrats may have to negotiate or scrap their plans.
We hear a lot about RINO's and DINO's. Manchin is the true "in name only "politician, and is a Republican in practice. The party should give him zero help the next time he runs.
His belief that Republicans can be brought to the table to achieve Biden's goals is ridiculous at this point. Why on earth moderate Democrats keep wanting to placate Manchin at all costs is beyond me.
Fck placating ANY of the GOP who've sold out our country via LIES and Bullshit compromise threats, that wanna bets, will never happen. Filibuster shcrillabuster, if they don't lose it the Dems might as well just whittle thumbs cause the GOP ain't gonna let anything get done
Democrats hold all the power. Democrats and those who caucus with them are responsible for the bill getting shot down.
Starting to look like Democrats can't lead while in the majority or minority.
How quickly the Dems forget how they used it to their advantage when they were the minority party. Sure do wish we could get away from partisan politics and back to good-old politics.
after Trumps' policy of divide and conquer, which was preceded by even if it was an idea by the GOP, it must be shot down if Obama backed it, i believe it will be a while before compromise is even again a word in the English language for the GOP, and to a lesser extent the Dems
This to me implies a bit of cover for the Democrats as the statement implies that the Democrats reject compromise more than the Republicans. IMO so long as we excuse or provide some cover for the excess of one political party over the other this will never get resolved. IMO neither political party bothers with compromise, it's all follow the partisan line because there is too much money involved. The other side of this problem is that I don't know how to fix it because the two-party system has such a lock on elections that any third party has almost no chance of gaining any ground. Short of a revolution I don't know how to fix this.
Sorry, mistyped that. It should read 'Democrats reject compromise less than the Republicans" Sorry for the confusion, but the rest of the comment stands.
That's silly. Just by voting to elect Schumer leader, he gave a massive advantage to Democrats.
It's like Susan Collins with Republicans. She votes to organize with Republicans. Anything else she does for them is gravy. No other Republican will in Maine, and any Democrat will be a far left loon. So you take what you can get.
The party should give him zero help the next time he runs.
I agree. Just hand it to the Republicans.
Of course. One renegade is of no use to the Democrats advancing THEIR agendas.
Who elected Joe Manchin to be the sole decider of what does or doesnt pass in Congress ? No one.
Manchin isn't the sole decider.
King has also came out against the bill, so Manchin isn't the deciding vote anyways.
Time for Democrats to negotiate.
Well, the Dems can't get anything done without Joe's vote, for one thing.
Too bad there aren't more decent and patriotic Democrats like Manchin, who puts the Constitution and the country ahead of partisan politics.
The Dems can thank Harry "Nuclear Option" Reid for their current woes
Looks like Democrats will have to adjust.
Can't get everything they want passed currently.
Looks like the Democrats may waste their advantage ahead of losing said advantage in the midterms.
Good. I didn't like all the pieces of S.1 (or H.R.1 for that matter), felt it was too much overreach by partisan politics.
Angus King also came out against the bill as written.