Sen. Joe Manchin on Thursday issued a lengthy written statement reiterating his support for the filibuster amid calls from some Senate Democrats and President Joe Biden to eliminate or scale back the rule to pass voting rights legislation.
The House passed the voting rights legislation earlier Thursday ahead of an expected Senate vote. But without the requisite number of votes, Senate Democrats cannot pass it without changing filibuster rules.
Manchin’s comments came shortly after Arizona Sen. Krysten Sinema reiterated her support for the 60-vote threshold in a speech on the Senate floor. The opposition from Manchin and Sinema leaves Democrats unlikely to pass their voting rights legislation at present.
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In the statement, the West Virginia Democrat cited May 2010 testimony from then-Sen. Robert Byrd, who was asked by “then-Chairman Chuck Schumer” to testify on the filibuster “because of his ‘unsurpassed knowledge’ on the subject.”
Manchin said Byrd quoted James Madison who argued, “The purpose of the Senate was ‘first, to protect the people against their rulers, secondly, to protect the people against the transient impressions into which they themselves may be led,’ and that the Senate serves as a ‘necessary fence against such danger.’”
“Senator Byrd testified that, ‘the right to filibuster anchors this necessary fence.’ He concluded with, ‘We must never, ever, ever, ever tear down the only wall, the necessary fence, that this nation has against the excesses of the executive branch and the resultant haste and tyranny of the majority,’” Manchin said. “Senator Byrd’s insight helped explain why at no time in the history of the United States has the Senate been able to end debate on legislation with a simple majority.”
Manchin said before 1917, “there was no mechanism for ending debate in the Senate.”
“Even after the cloture rule came into effect 105 years ago, it has never provided that debate on legislation could be ended by a simple majority vote,” he said. “This has been the case even as the nation has faced a multitude of national crises, including depression and war.”
The filibuster had broad bipartisan support from “current and former members of the Senate,” Manchin argued, as recently as four years ago, when “sixty-one Senators, thirty-three of which were Democrats, sent a letter to Senators Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell warning them of the dangers of eliminating the filibuster.”
“That letter presented a united front committed to, ‘preserve the ability of members to engage in extended debate when bills are on the Senate floor,’” he said. “While some of them have changed their position, I have not.”
Manchin said he respects they may have changed their views but said, “I would hope they respect that I have not,” and said mutual respect and efforts to reach a consensus “is more important for our country now than ever before with the Senate evenly divided.”
“While many try to ignore this history, they do so without fully understanding the long-term institutional and democratic damage this will do to the Senate and our nation,” Manchin said. “Allowing one party to exert complete control in the Senate with only a simple majority will only pour fuel onto the fire of political whiplash and dysfunction that is tearing this nation apart — especially when one party controls both Congress and the White House. As such, and as I have said many times before, I will not vote to eliminate or weaken the filibuster.”
The filibuster protects democracy “from the transitory passions of the majority and respecting the input of the minority in the Senate,” Manchin said, whether that minority is Democratic or Republican.
“We must never forget that the Senate governs for all 50 states, not just red or blue states,” he said.
Manchin called ending the filibuster “the easy way out.”
“I cannot support such a perilous course for this nation when elected leaders are sent to Washington to unite our country by putting politics and party aside,” he said. “It is time we do the hard work to forge the difficult compromises that can stand the test of time and deliver on the promise of a brighter tomorrow for all Americans.”
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The senator’s office also included a list of Manchin’s prior votes to keep the filibuster and pieces he has authored in its defense.
Manchin also recently bucked his party by saying he would not support the Build Back Better Act, a social spending bill that contains major portions of Biden’s domestic agenda.
