Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said Tuesday that he would still keep the filibuster in place even if the Republicans use it against the Democrat-led January 6 commission.
Forbes reporter Andrew Solender tweeted that “Joe Manchin says he would NOT be willing to nuke the filibuster even if Republicans use it to block the Jan. 6 commission. ‘I can’t take the fallout,’ he told us, laughing loudly.”
As of Tuesday, only two Republican senators, Mitt Romney of Utah and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, have said they would support the commission, which is being pushed by Democrats. Ten Republicans would be needed to reach the 60-vote threshold to overcome the filibuster. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., criticized the commission idea as a “purely political exercise.” McConnell said that Democrats had voted to impeach former President Donald Trump over the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and that the attack’s participants will eventually face trial, so this commission would just be a way to continue “litigat[ing] the former president.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer still plans to bring the bill to the floor “very soon,” saying that “I’m sorry that some Republicans believe that a bipartisan investigation of the attack on our democracy is inconvenient for the midterm campaigns, but the Democratic-led Senate … is not going to sweep January 6 under the rug. We’re going to vote on the January 6 commission in the Senate, and the American people will see where every member stands – on the side of truth or on the side of Donald Trump’s big lie.”
However, the Hill reported Tuesday that the bill looks likely to fail, which would bring the first filibuster fight of the year to the Senate.
Source: Newmax
