Manchin and Sinema Vote with Republicans to Maintain the Filibuster

Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) joined all 50 Republicans Wednesday night in voting to keep the current filibuster in its current form. The vote was 52-48 in favor of maintaining it.

Earlier in the evening, the Senate failed to pass a cloture motion to end debate on the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, named for the late Georgia congressman. Republicans filibustered it by voting unanimously against cloture.

Senate Democrats were hoping to temporarily change the rule, which stipulates that 60 senators must vote to end debate before a bill can pass via a simple majority.

Manchin and Sinema had made their opposition to changing the filibuster clear, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) put them on the spot. The two Democratic holdouts responded by voting to keep it. Changing the rule required 51 votes to pass. If all Democratic senators had against maintaining the filibuster, Vice President Kamala Harris would have cast the tie-breaking vote.

Had the change gone into effect, the voting rights bill could be reintroduced and passed with a simple majority.

During a floor debate on the measure, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) slammed the effort.

“Tonight, for the first time in history almost an entire political party will write in permanent ink that they would shatter the soul of the Senate for short-term power,” he said. “But the brave bipartisan majority of this body is about to stop them.”

After the vote, Republican senators shook Sinema’s hand.

Watch above via C-SPAN 2.