President Joe Biden might have no intention of keeping his promise to bring back bipartisanship and moderation to Washington, D.C., but Sen. Joe Manchin does.
The West Virginia Democrat reiterated this weekend that he will not help his colleagues abolish the filibuster, a legislative tool that allows the minority party to stall and/or block legislation. His reasoning? He supported its use in the past to protect the Democratic Party’s say in the political process, so he has to support it now — even if it hinders the Democratic agenda.
Manchin’s consistency is encouraging, especially since the rest of his party abandoned it as soon as Biden took office. Just a few years ago, in 2017, dozens of Manchin’s colleagues signed a letter in 2017 urging Senate GOP leadership not to cave to former President Donald Trump’s demands to toss it. They argued the filibuster was vital, that compromise would not be possible without it, and that abolishing it would set a horrible precedent. Apparently, Manchin was the only one who actually believed that.
Even Biden, who once said gutting the filibuster would “eviscerate the Senate and turn it into the House of Representatives” and “upset the constitutional design,” now says he would support Democrats’ efforts to get rid of it. There is only one reason for this, as Manchin noted in a recent op-ed:
“It has been said by much wiser people than me that absolute power corrupts absolutely,” Manchin wrote. “Well, what I’ve seen during my time in Washington is that every party in power will always want to exercise absolute power, absolutely.”
Manchin is right. The only reason Democrats want to get rid of the filibuster now is because it’s the only thing standing in their way. It’s an obvious power grab, and they shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it. Thankfully, Manchin won’t let them.
