The Senate is voting NOW on whether to change the rules to impose a "talking filibuster" for this package of voting and election measures.
Technical point: This vote is on whether to sustain the chair’s ruling on existing rules. So senators voting YES are saying keep these rules; senators voting NO are saying change them.
Joe Manchin votes against triggering the nuclear option to change the filibuster, as expected. This vote will fail and the current Senate rules will remain.
Sinema also votes against changing filibuster rules.
52-48, Senate votes to preserve the filibuster and rejects Democrats' effort to impose a "talking filibuster."
It's done. Rules change fails.
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Manchin laments the state of the Senate today: "I don't know what happened to the good old days. But I can tell you they're not here now."
Joe Manchin says he's proud to cosponsor the Freedom To Vote Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, but he — again — emphasizes his opposition to weakening the current 60-vote threshold.
"I have not — and will never — waver on this."
Manchin contends that slashing the 60-vote rule would pour "fuel on the fire of political whiplash and dysfunction that is tearing our nation apart."
.@POTUS: "Some people may call what's happening right now the new normal. I call it a job not yet finished. It will get better. We're moving toward a time when Covid-19 won't disrupt our daily lives."
"We're not there yet. But we will get there."
Biden touts BBB, which is on ice due to Manchin's resistance to the House-passed version.
"My Build Back Better plan will address the biggest costs working families face every day."
He says it'll cut child care costs, prescription drugs, ease long-term inflationary pressures.
Biden on his first year and various stalled goals, including BBB and voting rights legislation: "I didn't over-promise. I have probably outperformed what anybody thought would happen."
Chuck Schumer is on the floor saying Democrats are under “no illusion” about their “difficult” odds on voting and election legislation. But he says “the public deserves to see” where every senator stands re: doing what’s necessary to pass them.
New —> Kyrsten Sinema is on the Senate floor now to talk about voting rights.
SINEMA: "Where does this descending spiral of division lead, and how can we stop it?"
She says divisions have fueled laws that'll make it harder for Americans to vote. "These state laws have no place in a nation whose government is formed by free, fair, and open elections."
Kyrsten Sinema says she will "strongly support" legislative responses to assure free/fair elections and counter restrictive state laws. She names the Freedom To Vote Act and John Lewis. But she makes clear he still support the 60-vote filibuster rule for legislation.
Joe Biden says it: If the voting rights bills are denied a vote, “we have no option but to change the senate rules, including getting rid of the filibuster, for this.”
“The filibuster is not used by Republicans to bring the Senate closer together — but to pull it apart,” Biden says in Atlanta.
“To protect our democracy, I support changing the Senate rules.”
He says he’s appealing to Republicans who believe in the rule of law.
Biden says participants in the voting laws debate must decide if they want to be on the side of Martin Luther King or George Wallace.
Joe Manchin tells @LisaDNews on the filibuster: "I truly believe in my heart of hearts, for the sake of our country, that we have to have that ability for the minority — for what we have in this body, the way it works, the way it's always worked. We need to maintain that." 1/
Manchin: "Now with that, I say: To make this place work better, we do need some rule changes and I think the Democrats or Republicans can agree on that, because both are frustrated."
He floats 51 votes to open debate, 3/5ths present, guaranteed amendments, talking filibuster. 2/
"I'm not for breaking the filibuster, but I am for making the place work better by changing rules," Manchin says.
"I wish we'd sit down with our Republican friends."
Asked what rules changes Chuck Schumer will put to a vote, Manchin says he doesn't know. "No clue." 3/3