{"id":127800,"date":"2021-06-06T16:05:03","date_gmt":"2021-06-06T16:05:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?p=127800"},"modified":"2021-06-06T16:05:03","modified_gmt":"2021-06-06T16:05:03","slug":"joe-manchin-will-oppose-for-the-people-act-putting-senates-voting-rights-bill-in-peril","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/politics\/joe-manchin-will-oppose-for-the-people-act-putting-senates-voting-rights-bill-in-peril\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Manchin will oppose For the People Act, putting Senate’s voting rights bill in peril"},"content":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON \u2014\u00a0Sen. Joe Manchin, the pivotal Democrat in a split Senate, announced he will vote against Democrats’ flagship voting reform package, the For the People Act, in a major blow to the party’s ambitions on voting rights.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe that partisan voting legislation will destroy the already weakening binds of our democracy, and for that reason, I will vote against the For the People Act. Furthermore, I will not vote to weaken or eliminate the filibuster,” Manchin wrote in an op-ed published\u00a0Sunday in the Charleston (West Virginia) Gazette-Mail.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Manchin’s decision to oppose the legislation, which would allow the federal government greater ability to implement a standard election framework across the country and allow the federal government to enforce civil rights law, was rooted in his desire for bipartisanship and opposition to what he sees as a near-sighted partisan effort by Democrats.<\/p>\n
While the House passed the bill in March, the legislation has been bogged down in the Senate, where a 60-vote filibuster is necessary to advance legislation. Manchin has repeatedly said he will not vote to eliminate the filibuster, a Senate rule with a complicated history.<\/p>\n
Related: <\/strong>‘Hell was unleashed’: Biden urges reckoning on race at Tulsa massacre anniversary, taps Harris to lead on voting rights<\/span><\/p>\n Manchin reiterated he is not interested in reforms to the filibuster on voting rights, something that Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., a veteran of the civil rights movement and staunch voting rights advocate, has pressed Manchin on in the past.<\/p>\n “Of course, some in my party have argued that now is the time to discard such bipartisan voting reforms and embrace election reforms and policies solely supported by one party. Respectfully, I do not agree,” the senator wrote.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., seen here on Feb. 24 in Washington, has announced he will not vote for the Democrats' flagship voting rights bill, the For the People Act. (Photo: Pool, Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n With his latest announcement, the West Virginia Democrat has likely ended the legislation’s chances of passage.<\/p>\n Instead of passing the bill’s Senate version, known as S.1, Manchin argued the upper chamber should pass a reinforced version of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, which would reinstate the 1965 Voting Rights Act with some additional provisions.<\/p>\n “My Republican colleague, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, has joined me in urging Senate leadership to update and pass this bill through regular order. I continue to engage with my Republican and Democratic colleagues about the value of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and I am encouraged by the desire from both sides to transcend partisan politics and strengthen our democracy by protecting voting rights,” Manchin wrote.<\/p>\n OnPolitics:<\/strong>\u00a0Joe Manchin, Washington’s most influential Democrat<\/span><\/p>\n Capitol Hill Democrats and the White House have made it clear that expanding access to voting is a top priority for the party.<\/p>\n Democrats’ coalescing around the issue comes as Republican-controlled states across the country pass a series of election security laws that critics argue will make it harder to vote, especially for people of color and Democratic-leaning constituencies.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Voting rights and the For the People Act are front and center as states like Georgia and Florida pass restrictive laws after pandemic expansions. (Photo: USAT)<\/span><\/p>\n On Tuesday, Biden announced Vice President Kamala Harris will lead the administration’s push to expand voting rights legislation and other measures across the country.<\/p>\n S.1’s potential demise\u00a0will likely affect the administration’s strategy on voting rights going forward.<\/p>\n Speaking at an event in commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, Biden said \u201cit’s going to take a hell of a lot of work” to combat the\u00a0\u201cassault on our democracy” posed by the current slate of election bills but that Harris was ready for the task.<\/p>\n Follow Matthew Brown online @mrbrownsir.<\/em><\/p>\n