MSNBC’s Joy Reid slammed Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) on Friday for their opposition to nixing the Senate filibuster, calling them members of the “no progress caucus.”
The host in a segment on “The ReidOut” cited recent remarks from the two moderate senators, who said they would not support growing calls from fellow Democrats to eliminate the filibuster, which requires 60 votes to pass most legislation.
Manchin, whom Reid on Friday sarcastically referred to as “Prime Minister Manchin” and “the prince of Appalachia,” in an opinion piece for The Washington Post this week called the filibuster “a critical tool” to protecting the power of rural and small states as well as “our democratic form of government,” adding that lawmakers “will not solve our nation’s problems in one Congress if we seek only partisan solutions.”
Similarly, Sinema, whom Reid called a “onetime progressive,” told The Wall Street Journal, “When you have a place that’s broken and not working, and many would say that’s the Senate today, I don’t think the solution is to erode the rules.”
Reid specifically pointed out the two senators’ support of the For the People Act, which in part attempts to expand voting rights, limit gerrymandering and provide new ethical guidelines for those in federal office.
However, the MSNBC host argued that “what the senators are choosing to ignore as they chase this mythical bipartisan beast is that the current batch of Senate Republicans have shown no interest in compromise.”
Reid then cut to clips of GOP senators who have verbally opposed the bill, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.), who called the proposed legislation “the biggest power grab since I’ve been in Congress,” claiming it will “take away every state’s ability to run free and fair elections.”
Reid said that both Manchin and Sinema declined opportunities to appear on the show and did not respond to her request to “provide us with a list of the 10 Republicans who will vote for an infrastructure bill or a voting rights bill or even anything.”
Former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau then appeared on the program, telling Reid that if Manchin and Sinema can’t garner support for the bill from 10 Republican senators, then “the people that are the source of gridlock in Washington aren’t necessarily those Republican senators.”
Progressives worry that the opposition from Manchin and Sinema to ending the filibuster, which would require approval from all Senate Democrats, will put their policy agenda in jeopardy.
Manchin furthered his calls not to nix the filibuster during an interview on CNN’s “The Situation Room” on Thursday, in which he said the Jan. 6 Capitol riot “changed” him to more fervently want to pursue bipartisan legislation.
“You can’t have this many people split to where they want to go to war with each other,” the senator said.