CHARLESTON –Republicans were successful in blocking U.S. Senator Joe Manchin’s Freedom to Vote Act earlier this week thanks, at least in part, to Manchin’s staunch support of maintaining current filibuster rules.
But what happens if the filibuster is blown up?
“It would be devastating to our democracy,” West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner told The West Virginia Record. “In the U.S. Constitution, everything not expressly given to the federal government is left to the states. What everyone has to remember is that one day, the Democrats will not be in power again. It might be next year, it might be three years from now, whenever.
Manchin
“Do they really want this to be on the other foot? That isn’t good for democracy. That’s what I think Senator Manchin is taking the proper approach on the filibuster.”
Warner, a Republican, said Democrats wanting to alter the filibuster rules simply need to ask themselves this question: What if President Trump was still in the White House, and the GOP controlled both houses of Congress?
“Would you want the filibuster rules changed then?” Warner asked. “If you say no to that, then you have to say no to the current situation.”
Current Senate filibuster rules permit senators to speak for as long as they wish, and on any topic they choose, until "three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn" vote to close debate by invoking cloture.
For months, liberal Democrats have pushed Manchin to consider altering or ending the filibuster, but Manchin has been steadfast in his support of maintaining the filibuster.
Manchin also wants voting rights reform, and he says the change needs to be bipartisan. But on October 20, all 50 Republican senators voted to filibuster the Freedom to Vote Act, which essentially was Manchin’s voting rights reform bill.
A vote could happen as early as next week on the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, a similar bill. It likely will have a similar fate as well.
Meanwhile, two other Democratic senators – Maine’s Angus King and Montana’s Jon Tester – recently have said they’d consider filibuster reform after previously being against such a move.
“I’ve concluded that democracy itself is more important than any Senate rule,” King now says.
In addition to discussions about voting rights legislation, Warner said he’s also talked to Manchin about the filibuster.
“Manchin has stood firm,” Warner told The Record. “He doesn’t plan to bust the filibuster. He has laid this out time and time again.
“Senator (Robert C.) Byrd was such a supporter of the U.S. Constitution and the legislative process. The House of Representatives was designed to be closer to the people, and the Senate was designed to slow things down and be more deliberate. Senator Manchin likened it to a tea cup and a saucer. The House is the tea cup, and the Senate is the saucer. It allows things to spill over and have a chance to cool.
“The filibuster provides that method to slow things down. Let minority voices be heard. There intentionally isn’t a one-vote margin in the Senate. Senator Manchin understands the need to have the minority voices be heard, and the filibuster is part of that.
“We need to respect that he is holding the process up for all of America, fortunately we have him doing so.”
Despite it being Manchin’s bill, Warner said he’s glad the Freedom to Vote Act didn’t pass.
“The latest attempt by Washington, D.C., bureaucrats to nationalize our states’ elections has now suffered the same defeat as H.R. 1 and other ill-fated, fraud-enabling efforts introduced over the last several years,” he said. “Once again, supporters of this bill in Congress did not listen to their constituents or state and local election officials.”
Warner said 54 of the state’s 55 county clerks opposed the measure.
“Following existing law and state-specific processes over the past five years, our clerks worked tirelessly to make our voter rolls more accurate than ever before and registered more than 255,000 voters,” Warner said. “We successfully implemented reasonable voter ID requirements, saw more than 802,000 citizens vote in last year’s general election and offered more ways to vote than arguably any other state.”
Simply put, Warner said, West Virginia’s election systems are not broken.
“We ranked near the top of all states in voter confidence following the 2020 election cycle,” he said. “States with less confidence in their elections should turn to their state legislators to address state-specific needs, just as the U.S. Constitution expressly provides.
“This bill’s failure … shows, yet again, that it is not the role of Congress to nationalize election administration.”
But, like the phoenix rising from the ashes, Warner fears another similar bill will be created soon.
“It is so bad for our election administration across the country,” Warner told The Record. “We have different cultures, different legislative processes. We don’t want the federal government to tell us how to run elections here in West Virginia, and we don’t want to push our standards on others. If other states like what we’re doing and want to follow it, then sure. Go ahead. But it shouldn’t be forced on any state.”
And Warner also warned that busting the filibuster for voting rights legislation is just the first brick being removed from the wall.
“These things all are interconnected,” Warner told The Record. “Next, it could be the infrastructure bill, the $3.5 trillion spending bill.
“If they can bust the filibuster on voting rights, they can do it on others things.”