Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), the chair of the Senate Rules Committee, hinted that Democrats are making progress on breaking the voting rights filibuster.

Amy Klobuchar’s Comments About Joe Manchin Suggest Progress

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Klobuchar said on CNN’s State Of The Union:

But what I think we should do, myself, having been here the last decade and seeing exactly what’s going on, we need to abolish the filibuster. If you want to move on immigration reform and climate changes, the fires are going in the west. As we’ve seen record heat 120 degrees up in Canada. I think we know what we need to do. 

That being said, I am here today on voting rights. And Senator Manchin has worked with me over the last few months on what is a very good package in terms of some basic federal voting rights commended by Stacey Abrams, Barack Obama. That’s the first step. The second step will be to find a way to get this through. Number one would be to get Republicans. I personally don’t think that’s going to happen. 

The second thing is to say Senator Manchin has indicated some interest in the standing filibuster. That is one way to do it. We could have it focused on voting rights only. So, we’re continuing to work with him and many others to get this done.

But I’m here in Georgia to tell people we’re not giving up just because of some archaic rule in the senate that was set up for not good purposes and is once again blocking legislation that would help the people of this country. 

When asked if it was her conversations that moved Manchin, Sen. Klobuchar said, “It’s not just my conversations. It’s people like Senator Warnock, Reverend Warnock, who I’m about to see at his church. Jon Tester in Montana. I think Joe Manchin listens, and I’m not giving up. I’ll leave it at that. I’m not giving up. “

Democrats Are Working On Joe Manchin To Get Voting Rights Passed

Sen. Klobuchar has previously suggested that Democrats could use reconciliation to pass voting rights protections. Sen. Manchin has already signaled his support for the infrastructure reconciliation bill, so it seems obvious to put the two together and pass the Manchin proposals on voting rights in the infrastructure reconciliation bill.

Democrats are working on multiple options to pass voting rights protections. A filibuster carve-out would be even better than the reconciliation bill.

The recent history of  Democratic Senate filibuster changes suggests that public pressure doesn’t work, but arm twisting from colleagues is what gets the job done. It may take months of campaigning , but Senate Democrats like Klobuchar wouldn’t be so careful with their comments if they were not making progress.

Jason Easley

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