Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), a moderate, is speaking out about the idea of eliminating the filibuster.
Manchin has shared his opposition to ending the filibuster, which is an effort “to hold the Senate floor in order to prevent a vote on a bill,” according to the U.S. Senate website.
“I can assure you I will not vote to end the filibuster, because that would break the Senate,” Manchin said during an interview with The New York Times.
He continued to say that the Senate had been harmed enough “with the nuclear option on the judges. We’re making lifetime appointments based on a simple majority. The minority should have input — that’s the whole purpose for the Senate.”
“If you basically do away with the filibuster altogether for legislation, you won’t have the Senate. You’re a glorified House. And I will not do that.”
The West Virginia senator noted that there is no issue that he would agree on to kill the filibuster — even a coronavirus relief package.
“If we can’t come together to help America, God help us,” he said. “If you’ve got to blow up the Senate to do the right thing, then we’ve got the wrong people in the Senate, or we have people that won’t talk to each other.”
Manchin also touched on the results of the 2020 presidential election, telling the Times, “I just can’t believe that 72 million people were either that mad or that scared of the Democrat Party to vote for what I consider a very flawed individual.”
He added, “Here’s a person who lost 230,000 lives under his watch, basically denounced the science completely because it might hurt him politically, has a lack of compassion or empathy for humans, and denigrates anybody and everybody that does not agree with him. How 72 million people could still walk in and say, ‘Yeah, it’s better than that,’ I just can’t figure it out.”