Joe Manchin agreed Tuesday to vote with his fellow Democrats to begin debate on the voting rights bill – but 10 Republicans would still need to hop on board to progress the legislation.
'Today I will vote 'YES' to move to debate this updated voting legislation as a substitute amendment to ensure every eligible voter is able to cast their ballot and participate in our great democracy,' the West Virginia centrist Democrat said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said: 'We worked it out.'
The bill, however, needs 60 votes to avoid a filibuster and allow the Senate to begin debating the measure – and not one Republican has said they will join the 50 Democrats in voting to move forward.
A vote on H.R. 1, or For the People Act, is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday evening.
Manchin previously said he would not vote for the partisan bill, and didn't seem convinced otherwise after a meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House on Monday.
Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, pictured at the Capitol on June 22, said Tuesday that he will vote with his party to progress the For the People voting rights bill
'We worked it out,' Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday. But Democrats still need 10 Republicans to support the bill to avoid a filibuster and start debate
But Schumer now appears to have reached a deal with Manchin so Democrats can present a united front on expanding voter rights and access.
Manchin was the only Democratic hold out.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell ripped the proposal as a 'transparently partisan' effort showing the left's 'disdain' for Americans.
'Many Democrats would pass [H.R.1] with the slimmest possible majority, even after its companion faced bipartisan opposition over in the House,' McConnell said from the Senate floor on Tuesday.
'What a craven political calculation. What a way to show your disdain for the American people's choices,' he added.
Schumer will bring a procedural vote to the floor Tuesday evening to begin debate on the For the People Act. The measure is all but certain to fail.
In remarks from the Senate floor on Tuesday, Schumer blamed Trump for Republican opposition to the bill.
'Donald Trump, fresh off a resounding loss in the 2020 presidential election, cried foul and lied — lied — that the election was stolen from him, like a petulant child,' the New York Democrat said.
'There is a rot at the center of the modern Republican Party,' he continued. 'Donald Trump's big lie has spread like a cancer and threatens to envelop one of America's major political parties.'
Mitch McConnell (left) said from the Senate floor Tuesday that Democrats' voting rights bill is 'transparently partisan' and shows the left's 'disdain' for Americans. Schumer blamed Trump for the GOP opposing the legislation. 'There is a rot at the center of the modern Republican Party,' he said
'Even worse, it has poisoned our democracy, eroded faith in our elections, which is so detrimental to the future faith people need to have in our democracy,' Schumer said. 'And of course, it became the match that lit a wildfire of Republican voter suppression laws sweeping across the country. Because of one man's lie, Republicans are now doing the dastardly act of taking away voting from millions of Americans, making it much harder for them to vote, and many, many will not.'
He repeated the sentiment on Twitter and added: 'Republicans claim they're making it easier to vote and harder to cheat in an election. But in reality, they are making it harder to vote and easier to steal an election.'
Republicans are moving to block the progressive priority by forcing a filibuster. All 50 Democrats in the upper chamber would need to garner support from 10 Republicans to avoid a filibuster.
'Later today, the Senate will vote on whether to advance Democrats' transparently partisan plan to tilt every election in America permanently in their favor,' McConnell said Tuesday. 'By now, the rotten, inner-workings of this power grab have been thoroughly exposed to the light.'
Biden met with Manchin at the White House on Monday afternoon, and Schumer said Tuesday that the centrist senator is now on board with voting for the bill.
McConnell blasted the legislation Monday as a 'disastrous proposal' that will get 'no quarter' in the Senate.
'They've made it abundantly clear that the real driving force behind S1 is a desire to rig the rules of American elections permanently, permanently in Democrats' favor,' McConnell said of Democrats' efforts.
Schumer is bringing a vote to the floor Tuesday on a motion to begin debate on the amended version of legislation that passed the House in March.
The procedural vote, however, would need 60 votes to succeed – and there is no indication any Republican senators will support the bill, let alone 10.
