Joe Manchin's big hopes for a bipartisan deal just went down in humiliating defeat
Minutes ago Senate Republicans filibustered critical voting rights legislation – actually, filibustered debate on voting rights legislation. They refused to even allow debate on protecting the most important, most critical element of a democracy: the right and the ability to vote.
"If there is anything worthy of the Senate's attention, if there's any issue that merits debate on this floor, it is protecting our democracy from the forces that are trying to unravel it from the inside out," Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said after Republicans blocked debate on the bill.
While Republicans absolutely should be and are being held accountable, many on social media are blaming Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) for the failure to pass the Freedom to Vote Act.
Why?
Back in May Sen. Manchin insisted he could get Republicans to come to the table, to act in good faith, to do the right thing when it counted.
He insisted the filibuster had to be protected at all costs, and he's steadfastly refused to budge on eliminating it. Even as Republicans in state after state after state enact anti-democratic legislation designed to make it harder and harder for people, especially minorities, to vote.
In short, he failed.
Not a single Republican crossed the aisle – much less ten to get the necessary 60 votes – not even to allow debate on protecting voting rights.
And now many are blaming Manchin.
That's it. The bill will not move forward at this time. No more handwringing about compromises or baloney talk from Joe Manchin of winning over 10 Republicans. NOW IT IS TIME TO REFORM THE FILIBUSTER!
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) October 20, 2021
Can someone please ask @Sen_JoeManchin what happened to 10 Republicans he promised would support Freedom to Vote Act & how he plans to pass his voting rights bill without changing filibuster rules?— Ari Berman (@Ari Berman) 1634761337
Joe Manchin on May 27, 2021 on why he refuses to reform the filibuster: "You have to have faith there's 10 good people."\n\nThere weren't. Not even one. By Manchin's own logic, there's no longer any justification to retain the filibuster.pic.twitter.com/ty5mbCP40M— Brian Tyler Cohen (@Brian Tyler Cohen) 1634760561
For real, though, Manchin's theory of change -- that Rs could be coaxed to support reasonable, moderate compromise on critical issues -- has been disproven.\n\nHe said he had "faith there's 10 good people" in the GOP caucus to support these bills. There are not.\n\nNow what?— Dan Lavoie (@Dan Lavoie) 1634760046
Asked last month about his plan to get the Freedom to Vote Act passed, Joe Manchin replied, "It's to get 10 Republicans."\n\nToday, the bill got zero Republicans.http://on.msnbc.com/3nbLfuL— Steve Benen (@Steve Benen) 1634759086
I thought Joe Manchin was going to find 10 GOP votes for this bill???https://twitter.com/hugolowell/status/1450908473072443397\u00a0\u2026— Tim Fullerton (@Tim Fullerton) 1634758773
This was the bill that Joe Manchin insisted on writing himself because he assured us all he could get 10 Republicans to support it. Turns out this was just another stall tactic by Manchin to keep us in idle while the clock ticks down to Too Late.— Mattie Gage -- Please Wear A Mask--I voted for Joe (@Mattie Gage -- Please Wear A Mask--I voted for Joe) 1634761911
Manchin helped write a voter protection law bill in place of the one we had. In doing so, he said he was confident he could get 10 republicans to vote for it. Well they vote on this voter protection act today and it\u2019s being said not one Republican will vote for it. FAILED!pic.twitter.com/RYQJJprLpe— katherine \u270c\ud83c\udffb\u2764\ufe0f\ud83c\udfb8\ud83c\udf0e\ud83e\uddda\ud83c\udf3a\ud83c\udf3c\ud83c\udf38 (@katherine \u270c\ud83c\udffb\u2764\ufe0f\ud83c\udfb8\ud83c\udf0e\ud83e\uddda\ud83c\udf3a\ud83c\udf3c\ud83c\udf38) 1634753675
Bear in mind this is Joe Manchin's baby, the bill he swore up and down would get 10 @GOP votes if only Democrats would stop trying to lead. \n\nSo much for that.— Max Burns (@Max Burns) 1634758999
I think it\u2019s time to turn Joe Manchin into a balloon animal because he would provide more joy in that way then being a senator because almost everything he does makes society worse. 10 republicans my ass. Throw in Kyrsten Sinema too— \u00c4lia Meth \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f (@\u00c4lia Meth \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f) 1634761805
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