Manchin floats modest Senate rules changes
Manchin, coming out of a meeting with Senate Majority Leader
Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other Democrats involved in the negotiations, didn't pledge to vote for any specific rules reforms but appeared open to smaller changes.
"I think the filibuster needs to stay in place, any way, shape or form that we can do it," Manchin said, asked about keeping the current rule that requires most legislation to get 60 votes to advance through the Senate.
Manchin added that he was still "optimistic" that Republicans could back smaller changes to the Senate rules with an eye toward making it easier to get bills onto the Senate floor for debate.
One idea Manchin said he would support would be getting rid of the 60-vote hurdle currently required to start debate on legislation. Manchin
has raised potentially scrapping the procedural roadblock in talks he's had with GOP senators on the Senate's rules.
"That's a rule change I would think Republicans — they've been for that before," Manchin said, while noting that it wouldn't change the ability for Republicans to use the filibuster to block senators from ending debate on the bill and moving to final passage.
Manchin also said that he wanted to put "power back in the hands of committees." Senators have previously discussed streamlining the ability for bills that come out of Senate committees with significant support to be able to get an up or down vote on the Senate floor. Currently one senator can block a quick vote and force leadership to eat up days of floor time and overcome the 60-vote filibuster.
Manchin said that Democrats were also talking about the idea of a talking filibuster, where opponents could slow down a bill for as long as they could hold the floor, but there were questions about how under such a change "how do you get off of it."
Supporters of a talking filibuster want to structure it so that opponents can delay a bill for as long as they can hold the Senate floor. But after they are done talking senators would then be able to pass a bill with a simple majority, effectively nixing the current 60-vote threshold required for most bills to advance in the Senate.
But Manchin indicated that he still wants to keep a supermajority requirement to end debate, but that he was supportive of changing it from requiring 60 votes needed to break a filibuster to three-fifths of senators present and voting. Under that shift, senators could break a filibuster with fewer than 60 votes if there were absences.
"It puts pressure on both sides," Manchin said. "I'm for three fifths, voting. ... That to me makes a lot of sense."
Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) on Tuesday night floated smaller changes to the Senate rules that would stop short of the filibuster reforms being pushed for by many of his Democratic colleagues.Manc…
thehill.com