Friday on CNN’s “The Lead,” Democratic strategist Paul Begala said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) made a “huge mistake” by not letting any Republicans vote for Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) compromised voting bill.
Begala said the snub would push Manchin toward ditching the filibuster rule in the Senate for his bill.
During a town hall on CNN on Thursday, President Joe Biden said that he was open to reforming or abolishing the Senate filibuster.
In a video, host Anderson Cooper asked, “When it comes to voting rights, just so I’m clear, though, you would entertain the notion of doing away with the filibuster on that one issue? Is that correct?”
Biden said, “And maybe more.”
Begala said, “A huge mistake here by Senator McConnell the Republican leader in the Senate here, by giving no votes whatsoever to Joe Manchin’s voting rights bill. Joe Manchin was secretary of state of West Virginia. He was very progressive on voting rights, always has been. I’ve talked to him about this. He believes in this. He’s not, you know, going to kill voting rights. He’s sponsoring it with Amy Klobuchar now. McConnell didn’t give him a single vote. I think that can start to push Manchin into reforming the filibuster for voting rights. I think that is why President Biden said that last night. He’s having those conversations right now.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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