Thread by @sahilkapur

.@Sen_JoeManchin says he's having "good conversations" and notes "the need for us to protect democracy as we know it."

"I'm talking, I'm not agreeing to any of this." He says talking filibusters, eliminating first motion to proceed, restoring cmte privileges are being discussed.

Asked if he needs any change to Senate/filibuster rules to come with Republican support, Manchin says: "That's my absolute preference."

Joe Manchin on Build Back Better next steps: "There's been no conversations after I made my statement."

Manchin sounds VERY skeptical about a filibuster carve-out for voting/election legislation: "Once you change rules or have a carve out—I've always said this: Anytime there's a carve out, you eat the whole turkey because it comes back. So you want things that'll be sustainable."

Joe Manchin says one of the discussions is to change the standard for overriding a filibuster to three-fifths of those *voting and present* in the Senate—currently it's three-fifths of the entire chamber, i.e. 60 votes flat to move forward with most legislation.

In sum: The Manchin puzzle is the same as it's been all year. He wants any filibuster rule change to have bipartisan support (needs 67 via regular order, 50+1 via nuclear option). But Republicans don't want a rule change that enables passage of election legislation they oppose.

The Manchin/filibuster nuance that's often missed:

He has endorsed a variety of changes to the filibuster, some of them major. Below is a list he made in 2011 👇.

What he hasn't supported is changing rules on a party-line basis (which Ds did in 2013 and Rs did in 2017).