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WASHINGTON (AP) – As President Joe Biden stands on the brink of his first major legislative victory, a key moderate Democrat said on Sunday he was ready to change Senate rules that could allow more votes from the line of the party to advance other parts of the White House agenda such as voting rights.
West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin stressed that he wanted to maintain the procedural hurdle known as systematic obstruction, saying major laws should always have a meaningful contribution from the minority party. But he noted that there are other ways to change the rules that now require 60 votes for most laws. One example is “systematic obstruction,” which forces senators to slow down a bill while speaking, but then grants a simple majority vote “up or down” if they give up.
“Systematic obstruction should be painful, it should really be painful and we’ve made it more comfortable over the years,” Manchin said. “Maybe it must be more painful.”
“If you want to make it a little more painful, make him just sit there and talk,” Manchin added. “I’m ready to watch in any way I can, but I’m not prepared to take the minority out of participation.”
Democrats begin to reflect on their next legislative priorities after early signing victory for Biden on Saturday, with Senate approval a $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan on a party’s online 50-49 vote.
The final passage is expected in the House on Tuesday if leaders can maintain support from progressives frustrated that the Senate has cut unemployment benefits and stripped a federal minimum wage increase to $ 15 an hour.
Over the weekend, the chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, representing about 100 House Liberals, called the Senate’s weakening of certain provisions “bad policy and bad policy.” But Representative Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., Also called the changes “relatively minor concessions” and stressed that the bill retained its “bold and progressive fundamentals.”
Biden says he would sign the measure immediately if the House passes it. The bill would allow many Americans to receive $ 1,400 in direct government checks this month.
“Lessons Learned: If we have unity, we can do great things,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y. in an interview after Saturday’s vote.
Still, the Democrats’ approach required a last-minute call from Biden to Manchin for his vote after raising late resistance to the scale of unemployment benefits. This immediately raised questions about the way forward in a partisan environment where few Republicans, if any, are expected to support the president’s program plans.
Democrats have used a fast-track budget process known as reconciliation to approve Biden’s top priority without Republican backing, a strategy that has succeeded despite reservations from some moderates. But working in the coming months on other issues such as the right to vote and immigration could prove more difficult.
Senator Lindsey Graham, RS.C., has vowed Senate Republicans will block passage of a sweeping House-passed voting bill. The measure, known as HR 1, would limit partisan gerrymandering from congressional districts, remove barriers to voting and bring transparency to the campaign finance system. This would serve as a counterbalance to the restrictions on voting rights that are advancing in Republican-controlled states across the country in the wake of Donald Trump’s repeated false claims about a “stolen” election.
“Not a Republican will vote for HR 1 because it’s a federal election takeover, he’s setting up a system where there’s no real security or voter verification,” Graham said. “This is a liberal wish list in terms of how you vote.”
The Senate is split 50 to 50, but Democrats control the chamber because Vice President Kamala Harris can vote for the tiebreaker. With 60 votes actually needed on most legislation, Democrats must win the support of at least some Republicans to adopt Biden’s platform.
When asked about the franchise bill, Manchin left the door open on Sunday in support of some sort of workaround allowing a passage based on a simple majority, suggesting he could support the ‘reconciliation’ s’ he was convinced that the Republicans had the ability to provide seize. But it was not clear how that would work, as the voting rights are not tied to the budget and would not be eligible for the reconciliation process.
“I will not go there until my Republican friends have a chance to speak as well,” Manchin said.
On Sunday, anti-obstruction advocacy group “Fix Our Senate” hailed Manchin’s comments as a viable way to overcome “sheer partisan obstruction” in the Senate.
“Sen. Manchin just saw Senate Republicans unanimously oppose a hugely popular and desperately needed COVID relief bill that was only passed because it could not be obstructed, it is therefore encouraging to hear him express his openness to reforms to ensure that voting rights and other critical bills cannot be blocked by a purely obstructive minority, ”the group said in a statement.
Manchin has spoken on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” “Fox News Sunday,” CNN’s “State of the Union,” and ABC’s “This Week,” and Graham has appeared on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”
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Associated Press editors Alan Fram and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.
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