Senator Joe Manchin made it clear Wednesday he opposes changing the Senate rules to bypass the legislative filibuster in order to raise the debt ceiling and that he's holding firm on his $1.5 trillion stance on President Joe Biden's budget package.
The Democratic senator from West Virgina dashed the hopes of progressives with his pronoucements - liberals hoped to invoke the so-called 'nuclear option' to bypass the Republican filibuster to raise the nation's borrowing limit and hoped to coax a few more billions out of Manchin and fellow moderate Kyrsten Sinema for Biden's social agenda.
'I've been very very clear where I stand on the filibuster. Nothing changes,' Manchin told reporters outside of his Senate office.
Some Democratic senators wanted to go 'nuclear' - a legislative move that would allow them to bypass the filibuster, the rule that requires 60 votes to advance legislation in the Senate.
Senator Joe Manchin opposes changing the Senate rules to bypass the legislative filibuster in order to raise the debt ceiling
It takes a majority of 51 votes to use the 'nuclear option' and, in the 50-50 Senate Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer would need every one of his Democrats on board plus Vice President Kamala Harris to break the tie.
President Biden appears to be on board with that option.
'I think that’s a real possibility,' he told reporters on Tuesday.
Manchin has been clear he opposes getting rid of the filibuster but, on Wednesday, he clarified he would oppose removing it in the case of a single piece of legislation - in this case the raising of the debt ceiling.
He also implored Schumer and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell to come together and find a way out of the legislative mess.
'I implore them to engage, start working, work this out. This should not be a crisis,' he said.
Schumer will hold another vote on Wednesday to try and pass a House-approved bill that would raise the debt ceiling through December 2022. It is expected to fail as it would need 10 Republicans to vote for it to move it forward.
McConnell has been clear that none of his GOP lawmakers are on board to help raise the nation's $28.4 trillion borrowing cap.
He has adviced Democrats to use a process called reconciliation - which also bypasses the 60 vote threshold - to raise the debt limit.
Democrats have publicly ruled this out, saying there isn't enough time before October 18 deadline, when Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned the nation will hit the debt ceiling. Te nation has not - in modern history - defaulted on its debt.
To use reconciliation,
