WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito says she thinks Joe Manchin will stay true to his words about the Senate filibuster rule.
“He’s sitting in the seat held by Senator (Robert C.) Byrd, who wrote prolifically on this subject,” Capito (R-W.Va.) said of her Democratic counterpart during a January 13 virtual press conference. “So, I think he (Manchin) holds that an imperative, a West Virginia imperative for him.
“I can’t really predict what he’ll say, but … I have confidence that he’ll stay true to his word.”
Byrd
Capito also reaffirmed her position on the issue, which Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) says will come to a vote before January 17, which is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The Democrat’s ultimate goal is to break the filibuster to have enough votes to pass federal voting rights legislation.
“I’m very much opposed to any kind of weakening of the filibuster,” Capito said Thursday. “The filibuster has been in effect for more than 200 years. What it does is slow things down in a good way. It supports bipartisanship, and it gives the minority party more of a voice. It also helps small states, such as West Virginia.”
Capito also said there are other Democrats who feel the same as Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Arizona), who she says have been “the most out front in their objections to changing the filibuster.”
“I do know … there are more than a few others who have big questions about what this would mean for the long-term functioning of the United States Senate,” she said, citing a 2017 letter signed by 20 current Democratic senators who said they opposed changing the filibuster rules.
“What’s changed?” Capito said. “Is it just that you’re the party in power now? That seems that is the answer. But, I do think there are others who’d like to see this whole issue come to a head so we can move on. I believe this effort will fail.”
Early Thursday, Sinema said on the Senate floor that she wouldn't change her mind about the filibuster even though she supports the voting rights legislation. Later, President Biden visited Capitol Hill to talk to Senate Democrats about overhauling the filibuster rules to allow for voting legislation to pass with a simple majority rather than the 60 votes needed with the filibuster. Manchin just said Biden gave a "wonderful speech."
Capito said she’s talked to Manchin numerous times about the issue.
“There is tremendous pressure on him because it’s a political power play by the Democrats,” Capito said. “They need his vote. But at the same time, he’s been very vocal about his oppositions.
“Of course, as he can and often does like to do, he also skillfully leaves a little crack in the door. But, I really think he’s looking at this in the long-term.”
Capito said she doesn’t think there is a need for voting rights legislation.
“Look, it’s illegal now to discriminate against anybody to vote,” she said. “We had the largest voter turnout we’ve ever had last year. And we had the largest voter turnout in West Virginia except for 1960.
“The parameters for voting should be held at the state level. Let’s let the legislatures set the way they want to do this. … It is in everybody’s best interest to have as many people as possible vote, but it’s also best to prevent fraud. This bill waters that down.
“It’s more about the filibuster than it is about the voting rights.”
Capito also mentioned what could happen if the filibuster rules are changed and Republicans are back in control next year.
“Then, all of the sudden, you have a swing of policies from one way back to the other,” she said. “The Green New Deal, packing the courts, chipping away at gun rights, open borders and all sorts of other things. Then, Republicans would come back and work on narrowing abortion rights, enlarging Second Amendment rights.
“That’s not good for the country. We need to stay in more predictable fashion that the filibuster affords for us."
Capito also said this entire debate is about "more than just about one issue."
"This is about fundamentally changing the fabric, the fence that the Senate provides by having the filibuster in place to make sure that we don't have the dramatic swings from administration to administration, from majority to minority, (from) Republican to Democratic, and that we keep the ship sort of going in the right direction and working together at the same time," she said.