WASHINGTON (AP) – With President Joe Biden on the verge of his first major legislative victory, a leading moderate Democrat says he is open to changes in Senate rules that could allow more party votes to advance elsewhere on the White House agenda, as as voting rights.
West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin emphasized on Sunday that he wants to maintain the procedural obstacle known as obstruction, saying that the main legislation must always make a significant contribution from the minority party. But he noted that there are other ways to change the rules that now effectively require 60 votes for most legislation. An example: the “talking obstructionist”, who requires senators to delay a bill while keeping their word, but then grants a simple majority vote “up or down” if they give up.
“The obstruction must be painful, it must really be painful and we have made it more comfortable over the years,” said Manchin. “It may have to be more painful.”
“If you want to make things a little more painful, make him stand there and talk,” added Manchin. “I am willing to look in any way we can, but I am not willing to take away the minority’s involvement.”
Democrats are starting to look at their next legislative priorities after an early victory by Biden on Saturday, with Senate approval. a $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 aid plan in a 50-49 party vote.
Final approval is scheduled for Tuesday in the House if leaders manage to maintain the support of progressives frustrated that the Senate has reduced unemployment benefits and removed an increase in the federal minimum wage to $ 15 an hour.
Over the weekend, the president of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, representing about 100 liberals in the Chamber, called the weakening of some provisions by the Senate “bad policy and bad policy”. But Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., Also characterized the changes as “relatively minor concessions” and emphasized that the bill retained its “bold and progressive core elements”.
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.
“Lessons Learned: If we have unity, we can do great things,” Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., the elated Senate majority leader, told the Associated Press. in an interview after Saturday’s vote.
Still, the Democrats’ approach called for a last-minute call from Biden to Manchin to secure his vote, after he raised late resistance to the breadth of unemployment benefits. This immediately raised questions about the way forward in a party environment in which few, if any, Republicans must support the president’s agenda.
Democrats used a quick budgeting process known as reconciliation to approve Biden’s top priority without Republican support, a strategy that has succeeded despite reservations from some moderates. But working in the coming months on other issues, like voting rights and immigration, may be more difficult.
Senator Lindsey Graham, RS.C., promised that Senate Republicans would block approval of a broad House-passed bill on voting rights. The measure, known as HR 1, would restrict party gerrymandering in congressional districts, remove obstacles to voting and bring transparency to the campaign financial system. It would serve as a counterweight to the restrictions on voting rights that advance in Republican-controlled parliaments across the country in the wake of Donald Trump’s repeated false claims about a “stolen” election.
“No Republican is going to vote for HR 1 because it is a federal takeover of the elections, it establishes a system where there is no security or verification of the real voter,” said Graham. “It’s a liberal wish list in terms of how you vote.”
The Senate is divided into 50/50, but Democrats control the chamber because Vice President Kamala Harris can cast the tiebreaker. With 60 votes effectively needed for most legislation, Democrats must win the support of at least some Republicans to approve Biden’s agenda.
When asked about the voting rights bill, Manchin on Sunday left the door open to support some sort of alternative solution to allow approval based on a simple majority, suggesting that he could support “reconciliation” if he were satisfied that Republicans had the ability to provide input. But it was unclear how this would work, as voting rights are unrelated to the budget and would not qualify for the reconciliation process.
“I will not go there until my Republican friends also have the opportunity to speak,” said Manchin.
On Sunday, the anti-obstruction advocacy group “Fix our Senate” praised Manchin’s comments as a viable way to overcome “pure party obstruction” in the Senate.
“Sen. Manchin saw Senate Republicans unanimously oppose an extremely popular and desperately needed COVID relief bill that was passed only because it could not be obstructed, so it’s encouraging to hear him express openness to reforms to ensure that the rights of voting and other important projects will not be blocked by a purely obstructionist minority, ”the group said in a statement.
Manchin spoke on NBC’s “Meet the Press”, “Fox News Sunday”, “CNN’s State of the Union” and ABC’s “This Week”, and Graham appeared on Fox News “Sunday Morning Futures”.
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Associated Press writers Alan Fram and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.