“Our message to Sen. Manchin and other Senate Democrats remains the same: The best way to end Senate gridlock and dysfunction is to eliminate the filibuster and remove Sen. McConnell’s ability to use it as a weapon of pure partisan obstruction”
Washington, DC — This morning, during an interview with Chuck Todd on Meet the Press, Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), a longtime defender of the filibuster, signaled more openness to filibuster reform. His comments followed the passage of the American Rescue Act on a party line vote.
Chuck Todd asked for Senator Manchin’s thoughts on filibuster reform to pass critical bills like H.R. 1 with 50 votes. In his response, Manchin said:
“If you want to make [filibustering] a little bit more painful, make him stand there and talk, I’m willing to look at any way we can. But I’m not willing to take away the involvement of the minority.”
Fix Our Senate Spokesperson Eli Zupnick responded with the following statement:
“Sen. Manchin just saw Senate Republicans unanimously oppose a wildly popular and desperately-needed COVID relief bill that only passed because it couldn’t be filibustered, so it’s encouraging to hear him express openness to reforms to ensure that voting rights and other critical bills can’t be blocked by a purely obstructionist minority. Our message to Sen. Manchin and other Senate Democrats remains the same: The best way to end Senate gridlock and dysfunction is to eliminate the filibuster and remove Sen. McConnell’s ability to use it as a weapon of pure partisan obstruction.”