Was Biden referring to Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema on Tuesday when he said you are either on the side expanding voting rights by nuking the filibuster, or you’re on the side of George Wallace, Bull Connor, and Jefferson Davis? Guess Sinema must be on Biden’s bad list now, along with Sen. Joe Manchin who applauded Sinema’s efforts.
Ahead of Biden’s upcoming visit to Capitol Hill, where he will futility try to persuade holdout Democratic Senators that nuking the filibuster is in their best interest, Sinema launched a pre-emptive attack from the Senate floor:
Pre-empting a presidential visit to the Capitol to meet privately with Democrats, Ms. Sinema took to the floor to say that while she backed two new voting rights measures and was alarmed about new voting restrictions in some states, she believed that a unilateral Democratic move to weaken the filibuster would only foster growing political division.
“These bills help treat the symptoms of the disease, but they do not fully address the disease itself,” Ms. Sinema said. “And while I continue to support these bills, I will not support separate actions that worsen the underlying disease of division infecting our country.”
Ouch, that’s going to sting the White House and put the final nail in Biden’s legislative coffin. With Build Back Better already dead, and the voting rights push now sidelined, there isn’t much left that progressives in the Democratic base to get excited about.
Here’s the gist of Sinema’s speech where she says she will not nuke the Senate filibuster rules simply to give Democrats a way to nationalize elections and ultimately cause more division:
BREAKING: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema praises proposed voting rights bills but reiterates support for filibuster rule, saying "I will not support separate actions that worsen the underlying disease of division infecting our country." https://t.co/ihVuth6xKF pic.twitter.com/GVNP9wBLYe
— ABC News (@ABC) January 13, 2022
That’s basically the ballgame for Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and Joe Biden.
Sen. Joe Manchin, of course, praised the effort and reiterated the much-repeated fact that he feels the same way Sinema does:
MANCHIN just now on Sinema’s speech: “Very good. Excellent speech."
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) January 13, 2022
While Manchin and Sinema are the most vocal, they certainly are not alone within the Democratic caucus fearing what eliminating the Senate filibuster will mean in the future. There is simply no good justification for changing the rules, especially not for some federal takeover of state and local elections.
Astoundingly, it’s Senate Democrats who seem the least keen on causing more division in the country with Biden now becoming flamethrower-in-chief. Maybe that’s because he knows he has to at least give the appearance of trying or progressives will certainly sit out in 2022. Democrats control both chambers and the White House, if they can’t get any big items past now, they never will.
This is a developing story and may be updated later in the day.
