WASHINGTON (Fwrd Axis) — A frustrated President Joe Biden bluntly expressed uncertainty about his party being able to pass voting rights legislation following a meeting with Senate Democrats on Thursday.
The President emerged from the meeting less confident than ever about getting two key pieces of voting rights legislation passed. The meeting came just a few hours after Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) said in a speech on the Senate floor that she would not vote to make changes to the filibuster rule, which would allow both bills to pass.
“There’s no need for me to restate my longstanding support for the 60-vote threshold to pass legislation,” Sinema said.
Sinema’s position on the matter means the two voting bills have no path forward to be passed.
“I hope we can get this done,” Biden told reporters Thursday. “But the honest to god answer is, I don’t know whether we can get this done.”
“One thing [is] for certain — like every other major civil rights bill that came along, if we miss the first time, we can come back and try it a second time,” he added. “We miss this time, and the state legislative bodies continue to change the law, not as to who can vote, but who gets to count the vote.”
Sinema said she supports the two bills but favors the 60-vote rule, which Democrats oppose due to not being able to pass the bills because of Republican opposition.
“There’s no need for me to restate my longstanding support for the 60-vote threshold to pass legislation,” Sinema said.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at Wednesday’s briefing that Biden would “make the strong case” to lawmakers about ending the 60-vote rule.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will also both be “working the phones” to get the point across to lawmakers, she added.
The Freedom to Vote Act has no Republican support but The John Lewis bill has just Lisa Murkowski of Alaska supporting it.
Sen. Joe Manchin, who has been opposed to ending the filibuster rule, released a statement after Biden’s visit to confirm his point.
“As I have said many times before, I will not vote to eliminate or weaken the filibuster,” he said.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said in a Medium post that Democrats should not let the filibuster stand in the way of passing two historic bills.
“To be absolutely clear: we cannot let the filibuster stop us from ever debating voting rights or any other issue one member might find objectionable,” Murray wrote. “If it’s the filibuster or democracy, I’ll choose our democracy. If it’s Senate rules or a Senate that works for the American people, I’ll choose a Senate that works.”
