Last updated on May 29th, 2021 at 08:58 pm
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) called out Republicans for caving to political fear and said the American people deserve better after the GOP blocked the 1/6 Commission.
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Sen. Manchin said:
This commission passed the House with a bipartisan vote. The failed vote in the Senate had six brave Republicans, but that was four short of the ten necessary to advance the legislation. Choosing to put politics and political elections above the health of our Democracy is unconscionable. And the betrayal of the oath we each take is something they will have to live with.
To the brave Capitol police officers who risk their lives every single day to keep us safe, the Capitol and Congressional staff that work around the clock to keep Congress running, even the reporters who work hard to deliver Congressional news to the American people and every American who watched in horror as our Capitol was attacked on January 6th – you deserve better, and I am sorry that my Republican colleagues and friends let political fear prevent them from doing what they know in their hearts to be right.
Sen. Manchin has indicated in the past that he is open to filibuster but not getting rid of the whole filibuster. One imagines that votes like the blocking of the 1/6 Commission only serve to move Manchin closer to supporting filibuster reform.
Little by little, the filibuster reform opponents like Sen. Manchin are seeing that the Republican Party that they want to work with to craft bipartisan legislation is increasingly non-existent in the Senate.
If Democrats expand their Senate majority in 2022, filibuster reform will happen with or without Sen. Manchin, but his comments today suggest that the West Virginia Senator is seeing for himself the lack of respect for democracy and values in the Republican Party.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
