Manchin shoots down chance that Senate Democrats nix filibuster, expand court

[Polybius]

Source: The Hill

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Monday night effectively shot down any chance that Democrats are able to nix the legislative filibuster if they find themselves with control of the Senate next year.

Democrats are currently poised to have 48 seats in January and are fighting to win two seats in Georgia that would give the party control of the Senate because in a 50-50 split Vice President Harris could break a tie, giving the party the majority.

Manchin, during an interview with Fox News, said that if there's a 50-50 tie that he would not vote to nix the legislative filibuster, a decision that would take it off the table for Democrats. In order to nix the legislative filibuster should they have 50 seats, Democrats would need the support of every member of their caucus including Manchin.

"50-50 means there's a tie. But if one senator does not vote on the Democratic side there is no tie. ... When they talk about, whether it be packing the courts or ending the filibuster, I will not vote to do that," Manchin said.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/525236-manchin-shoot-down-chance-that-senate-democrats-nix-filibuster-expand-court

[C_U_L8R]

1. Manchin seems like he wants his pockets stuffed

His greed may eventually be his undoing

[CincyDem]

2. Manchin is as much of a self serving pr*ck as any republican.

I know, I know, it's about committee chairmanships but 75million people didn't vote for his f'ing back woods agenda. Without question the Senate is broken, as exemplified by Manchin as much as McConnell.

That we have to frame our country's future around a guy catering to the single worst state economy in the country, in the bottom 5 for education and the bottom 10 for health care.

At least McConnell is honest in his contempt for the future. Machin - not so much.

[L.Pharmstrong]

23. I dislike the guy immensely.

But the reality is that he is stuck. He has to pander to his constituency, which consists in significant part of hillbilly dumbfucks who vote against their own interests. If Manchin were to support a filibuster or court-packing plan, he’ll be gone after 2024. He was last re-elected with under 50% of the vote. While I’d love to see Manchin gone, the reality is that he’d likely be replaced by a Republican. Granted 2024 is a long way off.

[CincyDem]

24. Ask not what your country can do for you...

I agree. He’s be gone in 2024. With his dignity intact having participated actively in bettering the world for his constituents...improving their health care, their education opportunities, the general welfare.

They may not thank him for it but such is the life of a real leader vs a charlatan not unlike Don...in it only for himself (but less obviously that Don).

[msongs]

3. he's gonna take the rewards from mcconnel to flip nt

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

15. Probably so. nt

[Fiendish Thingy]

4. Fuck that guy. Nt

[dweller]

5. wow ... our own ballonhead

🤬


✌🏻

[DarthDem]

6. We'll see . . . .

[JDC]

7. He needs the proper motivation.

He's getting ahead of it and creating leverage.

[bdtrppr6]

8. he's always been useless n/t

[greenjar_01]

9. Um, he's trying to get Ossof and Warnock elected...why you all are dragging him I don't know

[ancianita]

10. Good point. But everything said about him here is still true.

[still_one]

11. I agree. Start showing your cards like getting rid of filibuster, expanding the court, etc. those

issues are not going to help our candidates in the Georgia runoffs

[cstanleytech]

13. Yup the issue and message needs to be about how our people will actually work for Georgia and

people that live there to improve their lives and economic situation so they do not have to struggle to make ends meet.
At the same time they need to be pointing out that Perdue and all of the Republican politicians for the past 20 years have lied and continued to ignore the struggle of the average person in Georgia.

[OhioTim]

12. Manchin

Don't really like the guy, but he is in the reddest of state. Gave Dump his highest vote percentage.

[oldsoftie]

14. Talking about adding to the court & Getting rid of the filibuster just HELPS the GOP

The ads write themselves.
And adding to the court just starts a never ending cycle. Next time the GOP is in charge, and they WILL be at some point, they'll just add their own number. And so on.

[SergeStorms]

16. Every time I complain about Manchin...

people jump all over my shit or I get alerted on. "He's a democrat in a red state", yada, yada, yada. So I won't say anything bad about Mr. Manchin. His actions speak for themselves.

[yaesu]

18. yep, I just call him another Lieberman, that speaks for itself. nt

[Polybius]

27. At least Lieberman supported us on social issues

Manchin opposes abortion and marriage equality.

[KitSileya]

17. In other words, Manchin works hard to win us Georgia and Alaska

He is reassuring moderates in those states that it is safe to vote Dem, and he's doing a stellar job too. Moderates in those places aren't going to vote for a Dem Senate if they think the Dems are going to blow things up.

[Fullduplexxx]

20. They were all for blowing things up that's why trump was elected

[Fullduplexxx]

19. Is he still needed ?

[maxsolomon]

28. Is that a serious question?

Fuck yes he's needed.

[Lonestarblue]

21. Maybe Democrats need lesson in negotiation tactics.

What Manchin just did was to blow up any possibility for negotiating with Republicans to pass needed legislation because he just summarily removed the threat that could have been used. Anyone who has ever conducted corporate negotiations knows that you don’t announce your capitulation to the other party before negotiations even begin. Even if Manchin sincerely believes that getting rid of the filibuster is wrong, it’s stupid to announce it. All he needed to say was that he was taking a wait-and-see attitude depending on whether McConnell and Republicans obstruct all Biden appointments and legislation, as McConnell has already promised to do.

We need to work on 2022 Senate races because even if we win Georgia, a 50-50 Senate is too risky for getting real progress.

[cayugafalls]

22. Well, maybe he is just telling them what they want to hear so we get those 2 seats.

Rather than bust his chops right now, lets see what happens.

Perhaps, he is playing the rethug game.

[Calista241]

25. Republicans had the opportunity to nix the legislative filibuster when they had the House

and the Senate, and chose not to do so. They could have done a lot of shit, like implement a Flat Tax, repeal the ACA, shrink Social Security / Medicare, and a lot of other bullshit.

If we nix the filibuster, all of that is on the table in the future, so i'm leaning towards keeping it in place. For 200 years, the Senate as been the self described 'most deliberative body.' I'm not sure I buy into that hype, but I suspect that if we did eliminate the filibuster, we'd have a new Gang of 8 or Gang of 16, or some other bipartisan group come together to embargo one sides or the other passing legislation carte blanche.

[Crowman2009]

26. With Democrats like these, who needs GOPers!

I thought Alabama was screwed up, at least we have 13 blue counties. West Virginia's counties are all red!