Skip to main content

Joe Manchin calls increasingly likely GOP filibuster of Jan. 6 commission 'so disheartening'


Republicans in the Senate are "ready to mount a filibuster" of legislation creating an independent panel to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, as GOP opposition to it is "hardening by the day," Politico reports.

Citing interviews with Republicans, Politico writes that there is "almost no path to even opening up debate" on the bill to create the bipartisan commission, let alone a path to actually passing it. Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) told the outlet that "I don't think there will be 10 votes on our side for it" and that he'd "be surprised" if there's "even a handful."

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who has repeatedly expressed opposition to eliminating the filibuster, in an interview "seemed aghast" that Republicans are set to block the commission, Politico wrote.

"So disheartening," he said. "It makes you really concerned about our country."

Manchin added, when asked if the GOP was abusing the filibuster, that he's "still praying we've still got 10 good solid patriots within that conference."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) earlier this week announced his opposition to the proposal for the commission, arguing the legislation was "slanted and unbalanced." Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has promised, though, that the Senate will vote on creating the commission.

Schumer, Politico writes, plans to bring the bill to the floor while "daring Senate Republicans to block it," and with a GOP filibuster likely, Democrats "see an opportunity to begin making their case to reluctant members that the 60-vote status quo is unsustainable." Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass), for example, asked, "How do you go forward if you can't make it work over something like an independent commission?" Read more at Politico. Brendan Morrow

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Biden says K-12 education isn't working — calls for free pre-K to "grade 14"

President Joe Biden on Wednesday praised the nation's K-12 education system for fueling America's economic growth for almost a century. But, he stressed, that system may no longer be sufficient as the foundation for future prosperity. Mr. Biden's American Families Plan is taking aim at an issue that has bedeviled economists as well as millions of families struggling to stay afloat financially: A high school diploma is no longer enough to secure a middle-class life. Under the White House proposal, the nation's K-12 system would be expanded on both ends — from free pre-kindergarten education through a "grade 14," funding two years of schooling before kindergarten and two years of post-high school education through free community college. There's plenty of economic research that links rising high school graduation rates throughout the 20th century to faster U.S. economic growth. For example, broadening education help women enter the workforce and enabled men ...
Post a Comment
Read more

New climate envoy John Kerry sold off energy holdings to avoid conflict of interest, disclosures show

Financial disclosures released by former Secretary of State John Kerry indicate that until March of this year he held hundreds of thousands of dollars of investments in energy-related companies that may end up being affected by policies he'll help shape as President Joe Biden's new climate envoy. An ABC News analysis of his assets show that in recent years, Kerry held stakes in at least three dozen companies related to the energy industry, including firms dealing in electric, oil and gas, and nuclear energy, with shares worth between $204,000 and $960,000. Kerry had also recently held high-ranking positions within firms and entities that could end up being regulated by his climate action policies, filings show. A certificate of divestiture issued by the Office of Government Ethics on March 8 shows Kerry's plan to divest from companies that could pose a conflict of interest for his new role as U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, a common measure that newly appointed...
Post a Comment
Read more

Column: The Tucker Carlson mystery — how does his show survive without major advertisers?

It used to be that the economics of television were pretty straightforward: broadcasters sold advertising to sponsors, who were willing to pay more to hawk their wares on the highest-rated programs. The biggest shows and stars attracted the classiest advertisers — luxury car makers, popular consumer products, brokerages and banks. Things have obviously changed radically, or how else could one explain the phenomenon of Tucker Carlson? We have a moral obligation to admit the world’s poor, they tell us, even if it makes our own country poorer, and dirtier, and more divided. Tucker Carlson, 2018 Advertisement Carlson is the undisputed star of Fox News Channel. In the April Nielsen ratings he trounced all other cable news programming, with an average audience of more than 3 million viewers. His Tucker Carlson Tonight also finished first in the sought-after 25-54 age segment, averaging 523,000 viewers. Yet the advertising lineup of Carlson’s show displays virtually no class at all. Judging f...
Post a Comment
Read more