Joe Manchin took to the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon to voice his absolute opposition to eliminating the filibuster as President Joe Biden was across the city delivering his first press conference in 78 days.
'Eliminating the filibuster would be the easy way out. It wasn't meant to be easy,' the West Virginia centrist Democrat said during a Senate floor debate on voting rights legislation that will see a vote later Wednesday evening.
'I cannot support such a perilous force for this nation when elected leaders are sent to Washington to unite our country not to divide our country,' he continued. 'We're called the United States not the Divide States – and putting politics and party aside is what we're supposed to do.'
'It's time we do the hard work to forge a difficult compromise that can stand the test of time. And that's what we're here to do.'
Democratic Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema has also voiced her opposition to ending the filibuster, making her and Manchin isolated against their party on the issue.
While fellow Democratic Arizona Senator Mark Kelly has been cool to the idea of ditching the mechanism, he warmed up to the idea Wednesday, saying he would support the rule change if Republicans block his party's election bills later that evening.
Democratic Senator Joe Manchin made remarks January 19 adamantly coming out against his party ending the filibuster. 'Eliminating the filibuster would be the easy way out. It wasn't meant to be easy,' the West Virginia centrist said during a Senate floor debate on voting rights legislation that will see a vote later Wednesday evening
Senator Mark Kelly (left) said that despite being cool to the idea of ending the filibuster before, he would support the rule change if Republicans block his party's election bills later Wednesday evening. This has further isolated Manchin (right) in his opposition
'My year in the Senate has shown me how dysfunctional this place can be, and how that prevents progress on issues that matter to Arizonans,' Kelly said Wednesday. 'We're seeing that now, as voting rights legislation remains blocked while partisan politicians work to undermine Arizona's successful vote-by-mail system and create more barriers to vote.'
'If campaign finance and voting rights reforms are blocked again this week, I will support the proposed changes to pass them with a majority vote,' the senator who faces a difficult reelection this year added.
Republicans are expected to vote either unanimously or nearly unanimously against ending debate on Democrats' bills – which they combined into one piece of legislation – denying the 60 votes needed to advance them.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer from New York is expected to try to change the Senate filibuster on a party-line vote using the so-called 'nuclear option,' which Manchin also denounced on Wednesday.
He argued that members of his
