Sen. Joe Manchin reiterated his support for the filibuster on Tuesday even as President Joe Biden planned to publicly push for changes to the Senate rule, The Hill is reporting.
“We need some good rules changes to make the place work better. But getting rid of the filibuster doesn’t make it work better,” the West Virginia Democrat told reporters.
Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., support the legislative filibuster, which requires 60 votes for most bills to advance in the Senate, the Hill noted.
Democrats are now seeking smaller changes to the rule including a talking filibuster where opponents could hold up a bill for as long they could speak on the floor of the Senate.
They are also looking at exempting voting rights legislation from the 60-vote requirement.
GOP lawmakers are not expected to back any of the rule changes.
CNN noted that Biden, who is set to speak on voting rights on Tuesday in Georgia, was expected to increase pressure on both Manchin and Sinema to change Senate rules to get elections bills passed.
Meanwhile, Manchin again called for some bipartisan rules changes.
“We need some good rules changes, and we can do that together,” he said. “But you change the rules with two-thirds of the people that are present, so it’s Democrats, Republicans changing the rules to make the place work better. Getting rid of the filibuster does not make it work better.”
Manchin said that he’d “love to” watch Biden’s speech in Georgia today, as long as he’s “not in committee meetings, I will be.”
