‘This Democracy Is On Fire’: James Clyburn Goes In on Joe Manchin for Opposing Voting Rights Bill, Defending Filibuster
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) said on Monday night that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) needs to “take a hard look” at history because American democracy “is on fire.” Clyburn is just the latest Democrat to criticize Manchin for writing an op-ed explaining that he opposes both a voting rights bill passed by the House — the For the People Act, which passed the House in March — and reforming the filibuster.
Because of the filibuster, the bill would require 60 votes to begin and end debate. With a 50-50 Democrat-Republican split in the Senate, that means 10 Republicans would need to cross the aisle in order for it – and most other bills – to pass. Now that Manchin has said he opposes eliminating or even tweaking the filibuster, much of President Joe Biden’s agenda would appear to be in jeopardy.
“Some Democrats have again proposed eliminating the Senate filibuster rule in order to pass the For the People Act with only Democratic support,” Manchin wrote. “They’ve attempted to demonize the filibuster and conveniently ignore how it has been critical to protecting the rights of Democrats in the past.”
That didn’t sit well with Clyburn, who pointed out that Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina set the record for the longest filibuster when he spoke against the 1957 Civil Rights Act.
“This is what he’s trying to protect?” Clyburn told CNN’s Erin Burnett. “I think Senator Manchin needs to take a hard look at what he’s saying here. He’s not talking about voting against For the People. He’s talking about denying other Democratic senators an opportunity to cast a vote on a very critical issue.”
Later, Clyburn addressed Manchin directly:
I would say to Senator Manchin, you’ve told us what you’re for and against. How about put forth the legislation that you would like to see passed? Let us see your bill on voting rights and preserving the integrity of our democracy. We are playing a very dangerous game here. If I had not studied history all of my life, maybe I wouldn’t be thinking the way I think, and not feeling the way I feel. The fact the matter is the greatest empires in the world came down because of decadence, and a lot of avoidance of issues. It’s a whole theory that Nero played his fiddle as Rome burned. But what we have is a modern day fiddling around in the Senate and this democracy is on fire.
Watch above via CNN.
