*Journalist Jemele Hill slammed Sen. Joe Manchin on Monday over his refusal to support the ‘For the People Act’ or ending the filibuster.
NBC News writes, “At issue is the fate of the House-passed For the People Act that would remake American elections from start to finish. It would force states to offer at least 15 days of early voting, universal access to mail-in voting and same-day registration for federal races. It’d make Election Day a national holiday, too.”
Sen. Manchin, D-W.Va., said Sunday that he will not vote for the bill primarily because the GOP disapproves of it. He noted the reasons for his opposition in an op-ed published over the weekend in the Charleston Gazette-Mail.
“Congressional action on federal voting rights legislation must be the result of both Democrats and Republicans coming together to find a pathway forward,” he wrote.
This is so on brand for this country. Record number of black voters show up to save this democracy, only for white supremacy to be upheld by a cowardly, power-hungry white dude. @Sen_JoeManchin is a clown. https://t.co/fCMuyoLer3
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) June 6, 2021
Critics have noted that Manchin was a cosponsor of an earlier version of the bill introduced in 2019, which had no GOP cosponsors.
“Today’s debate about how to best protect our right to vote and to hold elections, however, is not about finding common ground, but seeking partisan advantage,” he argued in his op-ed on Sunday.
“The truth, I would argue, is that voting and election reform that is done in a partisan manner will all but ensure partisan divisions continue to deepen,” he wrote. And in speaking to West Virginians, “I cannot explain strictly partisan election reform or blowing up the Senate rules to expedite one party’s agenda.”
Per Business Insider, Manchin is also against abolishing the filibuster, “which Democrats would need to do in order to move the legislation forward with no GOP votes,” the outlet writes. The senator voiced his support for the less controversial voting reform bill The John Lewis Voting Rights Act:
The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act would update the formula states and localities must use to ensure proposed voting laws do not restrict the rights of any particular group or population. My Republican colleague, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, has joined me in urging Senate leadership to update and pass this bill through regular order.
Hill accused Manchin of supporting the John Lewis Voting Rights Act because he’s a racist.
“Record number of black voters show up to save this democracy, only for white supremacy to be upheld by a cowardly, power-hungry white dude,” she tweeted before calling Manchin a “clown.”
“Manchin’s op-ed might as well be titled, ‘Why I’ll vote to preserve Jim Crow,'” Rep. Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y., tweeted.
Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., tweeted, “We didn’t need an op-ed to know you’re unwilling to protect our democracy.”
Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, tweeted that she “can’t understand the Dems contributing to that demise by failing to respond urgently to voter suppression laws happening in states like mine.”
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