WASHINGTON 鈥� With President Joe Biden on the verge of his first big legislative victory, a key moderate Democrat says he's open to changing Senate rules that could allow for more party-line votes to push through other parts of the White House鈥檚 agenda such as voting rights.
West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin stressed Sunday that he wants to keep the procedural hurdle known as the filibuster, saying major legislation should always have significant input from the minority party. But he noted there are other ways to change the rules that now effectively require 60 votes for most legislation. One example: the 鈥渢alking filibuster,鈥� which requires senators to slow a bill by holding the floor, but then grants an 鈥渦p or down鈥� simple majority vote if they give up.
鈥淭he filibuster should be painful, it really should be painful and we鈥檝e made it more comfortable over the years,鈥� Manchin said. 鈥淢aybe it has to be more painful.鈥�
鈥淚f you want to make it a little bit more painful, make him stand there and talk,鈥� Manchin added. 鈥淚鈥檓 willing to look at any way we can, but I鈥檓 not willing to take away the involvement of the minority.鈥�
On Monday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki reiterated that President Joe Biden has no interest in tweaking the filibuster.
"His preference is not to make changes to the filibuster rules. But he believes that with the current structure that he can work with Democrats and Republicans to get work and business done," she said.
Democrats are beginning to look to their next legislative priorities after an early signature win for Biden on Saturday, with the Senate approving a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan on a party-line 50-49 vote.
Final passage is expected Tuesday in the House if leaders can hold the support of progressives frustrated that the Senate narrowed unemployment benefits and stripped out an increase of the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.
Over the weekend, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, representing around 100 House liberals, called the Senate鈥檚 weakening of some provisions 鈥渂ad policy and bad politics." But Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., also characterized the changes as 鈥渞elatively minor concessions鈥� and emphasized the bill retained its 鈥渃ore bold, progressive elements.鈥�
Biden says he would sign the measure immediately if the House passed it. The legislation would allow many Americans to receive $1,400 in direct checks from the government this month.
鈥淟essons learned: If we have unity, we can do big things,鈥� a jubilant Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told The Associated Press in an interview after Saturday's vote.
Still, the Democrats鈥� approach required a last-minute call from Biden to Manchin to secure his vote after he raised late resistance to the breadth of unemployment benefits. That immediately raised questions about the path ahead in a partisan environment where few, if any, Republicans are expected to back planks of the president鈥檚 agenda.
Democrats used a fast-track budget process known as reconciliation to approve Biden鈥檚 top priority without Republican support, a strategy that succeeded despite the reservations of some moderates. But work in the coming months on other issues such as voting rights and immigration could prove more difficult.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., pledged that Senate Republicans would block passage of a sweeping House-passed bill on voting rights. The measure, known as HR 1, would restrict partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts, strike down hurdles to voting and bring transparency to the campaign finance system. It would serve as a counterweight to voting rights restrictions advancing in Republican-controlled statehouses across the country in the wake of Donald Trump鈥檚 repeated false claims about a 鈥渟tolen鈥� election.
鈥淣ot one Republican is going to vote for HR 1 because it鈥檚 a federal takeover of elections, it sets up a system where there is no real voter security or verification,鈥� Graham said. 鈥淚t is a liberal wish list in terms of how you vote.鈥�
The Senate is divided 50-50, but Democrats control the chamber because
When asked about the voting rights bill, Manchin on Sunday left the door open to supporting some kind of a workaround to allow for passage based on a simple majority, suggesting he could support 鈥渞econciliation鈥� if he was satisfied that Republicans had the ability to provide input. But it was unclear how that would work as voting rights are not budget-related and would not qualify for the reconciliation process.
鈥淚鈥檓 not going to go there until my Republican friends have the ability to have their say also,鈥� Manchin said.
On Sunday, the anti-filibuster advocacy group 鈥淔ix Our Senate鈥� praised Manchin鈥檚 comments as a viable way to get past 鈥減ure partisan obstruction" in the Senate.
鈥淪en. Manchin just saw Senate Republicans unanimously oppose a wildly popular and desperately-needed COVID relief bill that only passed because it couldn鈥檛 be filibustered, so it鈥檚 encouraging to hear him express openness to reforms to ensure that voting rights and other critical bills can鈥檛 be blocked by a purely obstructionist minority,鈥� the group said in a statement.
Manchin spoke on NBC's 鈥淢eet the Press,鈥� 鈥淔ox 撸奶社区 Sunday,鈥� CNN's 鈥淪tate of the Union鈥� and ABC's 鈥淭his Week,鈥� and Graham appeared on Fox 撸奶社区 Channel's 鈥淪unday Morning Futures."
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Associated Press writers Alan Fram and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.
Hope Yen, The Associated Press
