Senate Dems eye talking filibuster amid voting rights legislation setbacks

Judy Woodruff:

The U.S. Senate officially began debate today on a key Democratic priority, voting rights legislation. But without support from 60 senators, final passage is impossible.

Democrats met this evening for an update on the path forward from Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Here with her own update, our congressional correspondent, Lisa Desjardins.

So, Lisa, the Democrats were meeting late today. What is the plan?

Lisa Desjardins:

Some big news tonight in a very big moment for Democrats. Senate Leader Chuck Schumer came out just minutes ago speaking to reporters and unveiling exactly what he intends to do now that it's clear he doesn't have the votes to pass voting rights.

He is going to try and change Senate rules for this bill. And I'm going to tell you how. He wants to float the idea of the talking filibuster. That is something that you and I have been talking about on this show.

Let me explain what Senator Schumer's proposal is exactly. And, again, it would only pertain to the voting rights bill. Essentially, the idea of the talking filibuster is that it would require senators to stand and speak while they filibuster, have to continue to hold the floor. It would still require 60 senators to end that filibuster, force an end to debate.

But here's the idea, that, eventually, all of the opposing senators would use up their time, would get worn out, and, ultimately, they would stop speaking on their own. And then, at that point, the bill would have just a 51-majority vote threshold.

Now, this is an idea that we know Senator Joe Manchin, that critical vote, the Democrat from West Virginia, has said he's interested in. However, just about an hour or so ago, he came out and said he is not on board this plan tonight, for a couple of reasons. He says he still thinks the 60-vote threshold is important to — for bipartisanship in the Senate.

And he also thinks that you should not change it with just one party alone changing the rule. Here's what he said.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV):

The majority of my of my colleagues in the caucus, Democratic Caucus, they have changed. They have changed your mind. I respect that. You have a right to change your mind. I haven't. I hope they respect that too. I have never changed my mind on the filibuster.

Judy Woodruff:

So, Lisa, that doesn't sound promising for Leader Schumer's plan.

But what does all this mean for President Biden and for the Democratic agenda?

Lisa Desjardins:

This is a moment that I think Democrats expected. They knew it. And they have been telling us again and again that they thought this was going to be a very tough hill for them to climb.

But that said, don't be fooled. This is a major defeat for Democrats and for the Biden agenda. This means not only that voting rights and all of the possibilities of things like same-day registration, early voting across this country, all of those things that Democrats wanted to do, civil rights protections, those now will not happen.

But, indeed, other legislation, none of it can happen without 10 Republican senators now on board in the Senate. There is still the exception, potentially, of a reconciliation bill that contain some of that Biden agenda, that Build Back Better idea. We're going to be following that.

But Democrats still will need Senators Manchin and Sinema on board that bill. And Senator Schumer still has a needle to thread there. So this is a very big defeat in terms of the muscle that Senate Democrats can mount in not only the U.S. Senate, but in governing in general.

It doesn't mean every door is closed to them, but the largest one is.

Judy Woodruff:

No question about it, a big victory for Republicans and a significant defeat for the Democrats.

Lisa Desjardins, staying on top of it all, thank you very much.