Clyburn: Allowing filibuster to be used to deny voting rights would be 'catastrophic'

[DonViejo]

Source: The Hill



BY ARIS FOLLEY - 03/07/21 10:55 AM EST

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said in a new interview that allowing the filibuster to be used to deny voting rights would be “catastrophic” as a sweeping elections bill awaits consideration in the Senate.

“There’s no way under the sun that in 2021 that we are going to allow the filibuster to be used to deny voting rights. That just ain’t gonna happen. That would be catastrophic,” Clyburn told The Guardian in an interview published Sunday, just days after the House voted largely along party lines to pass The For The People Act, also known as H.R. 1.

While Clyburn clarified that he is not “going to say that you must get rid of the filibuster,” he said the party “would do well to develop a Manchin-Sinema rule on getting around the filibuster as it relates to race and civil rights.”

The comments come after Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) have been criticized by liberals over their opposition to certain issues supported by some on the left, including eliminating the filibuster. The lawmakers were also recently among the seven Democrats this past week who voted against a proposal to increase hourly federal minimum wage to $15.




Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/542001-clyburn-allowing-filibuster-to-be-used-to-deny-voting-rights-would-be

[OrlandoDem2]

1. We will need maximum pressure on (R) Senators.

We will need phone banks to crank up. We need people picketing local offices. We need people in the streets.

We must pass HR1

[Fiendish Thingy]

8. Pressuring R senators is a waste of time- getting all 50 Dems on board is the only way.

Already today, Manchin is stepping back from his steadfast declaration of “NEVER!” Less than a week ago, and suggesting he might be open to making the filibuster more “painful” to use- require a Senator to actually speak, and require 40 senators to be present to sustain the filibuster.

[hlthe2b]

2. Speak out, Rep Clyburn. You are the one to be listened to.

(and who, I think, Pres Biden and others WILL listen to). No issue is more important than our future voting rights and I can not imagine this passing with the filibuster.

[dalton99a]

3. Kick

[Deminpenn]

4. Smart to call for a "Manchin-Sinema" rule

That invests both in the proposal that I believe would be to modify the filibuster by requiring active participation of the minority to continue it, perhaps by requiring 41 votes to continue. That way opposing senators actually have "skin in the game" as the filibuster could not proceed without them. They would have to stick around for all cloture votes instead of leaving the senate chamber to do other things.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

9. I saw Manchin on Fox today. He seemed amenable to a change in Filibuster, going back to the days ..

... when a filibuster lasted as long as a senator could stand and talk.

One problem with the old filibuster was, while the senator was speaking, no other business could be conducted. A filibuster halted the Senate.

[Deminpenn]

10. Betting there are changes that would allow

the Dem/Biden agenda to proceed without actually eliminating the filibuster that Manchin/Siema could accept. Manchin could have a rule named after him just like fellow West Virginian Robert Byrd.

[ananda]

5. I called John Cornyn's office and left a message..

urging him to vote for the For the People Act.

I did this through Democracy Docket's text message service.

[Lonestarblue]

6. Can Democrats propose a Senate rule change during one of these late-night sessions?

If most Republicans have gone home, what is to stop Democrats from nuking the filibuster as Senator Van Hollen did last week on cutting the amount of time for debate on the stimulus bill? Manchin and Sinema would not be needed then to get rid of the filibuster.

Republicans has a vote of 52-48 to eliminate the filibuster for DC justices, so a 60-vote minimum is not needed, though of course that was to get rid of just one use of the filibuster. Even if they cannot ditch the filibuster entirely, they could designate that it cannot be used for civil rights and voting rights bills.

[ancianita]

7. Why not? Will they have learned their lesson and stick around? Probably not.

But if they do, they must constantly be reminded that their voters are watching and their terms are not safe. Fear might be what makes a few more of them do the right thing. I say might optimistically, because powermongers' stupidity has consistently gambled on their voters' ignorance and gullibility. But the times they are a-changin', and maybe their voters are, too.

[riversedge]

11. agree agree!!

[Cha]

12. TY James Clyburn!