Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” Sen. Angus King (I-ME) sounded off on the push to make changes to the Senate filibuster as Democrats attempt to pass voting rights legislation.
King, a supporter of the filibuster, acknowledged that there are “areas” where it doesn’t work. He said one of those areas was “voting rights.”
“What we are trying to do, Andrea, is find a path where the minority’s rights are respected, they are able to be heard, but without the power to totally obstruct,” King outlined. “And that is really the issue that we are trying to try to find a path through. And those are the discussions that we are having. Joe Manchin believes in voting rights. He was a governor, he was a secretary of state, and he was the principal author of the voting rights bill that we have on the floor, the Right to Vote Act. So, this is something that is important to him, but he also believes in the role of the Senate as, you know, a bipartisan body. He believes the filibuster protects the rights of the minorities, forces bipartisan discussion.”
“The problem is there are areas where that doesn’t work, and voting rights is one, where we have seen essentially no interest whatsoever on the Republican side from even addressing this issue, and, yet, it’s the issue that is sort of underlining everything else that the country stands for and that we do around here,” he added. “So, we are going to be trying to find that path and continue the discussions and really hopefully find a resolution this week.”
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