The Senate late Wednesday rejected a Democratic effort to alter the filibuster in order to pass their voting bills over unanimous Republican opposition, ending one of the most consequential days in the history of the chamber.<\/p>\n

The vote failed 48-52 after Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema voted as they had vowed for months, joining a unanimous Republican caucus in opposition and denying their party the necessary support for the change to take effect. If the change had been adopted, it would have established a \u201ctalking filibuster\u201d pertaining to the voting bills only, allowing any senator to speak for or against them for as long as they wanted but lowering the 60-vote threshold for passage to a simple majority.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we have now \u2026 is not a filibuster,\u201d Maine Sen. Angus King, and independent who caucuses with Democrats said ahead of the vote. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t require any effort. It doesn\u2019t require any speeches. It doesn\u2019t require to hold the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStrom Thurmond would have loved this filibuster,\u201d King added, invoking the late segregationist senator who set the record for the longest filibuster speech ever while speaking against the 1957 Civil Rights Act.<\/p>\n

Democrats\u2019 attempt to change Senate rules ended a long day of debating that saw nearly half of the body speak either for the John Lewis Voting Rights Reauthorization Act or the Freedom to Vote Act.<\/p>\n

The voting bills failed to garner 60 Senate votes earlier Wednesday night even though Manchin and Sinema voted in favor, prompting Majority Leader Chuck Schumer\u2019s motion to change Senate rules to allow them to pass without GOP support.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor those who believe bipartisanship is possible, we have proven them wrong,\u201d Manchin said ahead of the vote. \u201cEnding the filibuster would be the easy way out. I cannot support such a perilous course for this nation when elected leaders are sent to Washington to unite our country by putting politics and party aside.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democrats have said the bills are necessary to counter election reform laws that Republican state legislatures across the country have passed in the wake of the 2020 election that allegedly suppresses people\u2019s ability to vote. Nearly all have endorsed altering the filibuster to ensure their passage even if done on a partisan basis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI share with many of you \u2026 a vision of the Senate that collaborates and negotiates the most important issue of our time,\u201d Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock said. \u201cI believe in bipartisanship. But at what cost? Who is being asked to foot the bill for this bipartisanship and is liberty itself the cost?<\/p>\n

Republicans, however, have countered, saying that the federal legislation, which sets uniform voting standards and outlaws partisan gerrymandering, will entertain voter fraud and infringe on states\u2019 rights to oversee their own elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president and his party will try to use fear and panic to smash the Senate, silence millions of Americans, and size control of our democracy,\u201d Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday.<\/p>\n

McConnell said later that while the day was one of the most consequential in the history of the Senate, it really boiled down to a simple question: \u201cWill it take 60 votes to pass massive changes or a simple majority to ram them through? That\u2019s what\u2019s at stake here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though senators engaged in genuine debate throughout the day, most expressed disrespect for how deliberation seemed to have faded from the world\u2019s greatest deliberative body. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the only Republican who backed the John Lewis voting bill, said Wednesday that the rhetoric surrounding voting has become troubling.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was part of a very troubling conversation last evening,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was shared depending on which side you\u2019re on in this body today on this issue, you\u2019re either a racist or a hypocrite. Really, is that where we are?\u201d<\/p>\n

Manchin echoed her hours later in his speech, criticizing the lack of bipartisanship as he has time and time again throughout his filibuster defenses.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what happened to the good old days,\u201d he said, \u201cbut I can\u2019t tell you they aren\u2019t here now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Senate late Wednesday rejected a Democratic effort to alter the filibuster in order to pass their voting bills over unanimous Republican opposition, ending one of the most consequential days in the history of the chamber. The vote failed 48-52 after Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema voted as they had vowed for months, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4722,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\n