Clyburn slams fellow Dem Manchin for bipartisan stance on voting bill: ‘Bunch of crap’
Rep. Clyburn is 'insulted' that West Virginia's Joe Manchin is the lone Democratic senator not to co-sponsor the For the People Act.
South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn said he was “insulted” that West Virginia’s Joe Manchin was the only Democratic senator not to co-sponsor the For the People Act, which addresses an expansion of voting rights.
“I’m insulted when he tells me that it’s more important to maintain a relationship with the minority in the U.S. Senate than it is for you to maintain a relationship with the minority of voters in America,” Clyburn said in an interview with The Huffington Post. “That’s insulting to me.”
The seasoned congressman slammed Manchin for specifically imperiling the re-election of freshman Sen. Raphael Warnock: “And you’re going to say it’s more important for you to protect 50 Republicans in the Senate than for you to protect your fellow Democrat’s seat in Georgia. That’s a bunch of crap.”
In a statement his office issued March 25, Manchin expressed his “legitimate concerns about the implementation of the For the People Act, especially in rural areas.”
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“Even though our democratic institutions have survived foreign interference and a violent attempt to enter the United States Capitol during the counting of Electoral College votes, America’s declining trust in the government and each other makes it harder to solve key problems,” he maintained. “That trust will continue to diminish unless we, as members of Congress, transcend partisanship to strengthen our democracy by protecting voting rights, implementing commonsense election security reforms, and making our campaign finance system more transparent.”
Manchin wrote there should be a bipartisan effort to address election issues: “We can and we must reform our federal elections together – not as Democrats and Republicans, but as Americans to restore the faith and trust in our democracy.”
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The For the People Act will face a Republican-led filibuster in the Senate. Clyburn supports changing the filibuster rules to pass the bill.
“The issue of civil rights and voting rights, these constitutional issues, should never be sacrificed on the altar of the filibuster,” he said. “I’ve been saying that for a long time. I don’t understand why we can’t see that my constitutional rights should not be subjected to anybody’s filibuster.”
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