Look, if you’re a Democrat, especially a Senate Democrat, Biden’s first term is never going to look any better than it does right now. Biden didn’t so much take a victory lap today as he just walked around throwing rose petals over the thing. Chuck Schumer is basking in the high praise of his boss, and even Joe Manchin made the rounds of the Sunday talkfests, trying to deny he loved being the Gordon Gekko of the Senate.
It’s hard to overstate the scope 0f this accomplishment. Remember, it was Will Rogers who once said, I don’t belong to an organized political party, I’m a Democrat. When you look at the width and divergence of political positions in the Senate, managing to hold all 50 of them together approaches The Miracle on the Marne.
Right now, the plan is to immediately move on to a gigantic infrastructure package, which the democrats can also pass unassisted with reconciliation. But a good battlefield commander needs to be flexible, and a good master plan needs to be adaptive. And it’s time to change the plan.
Because Joe Manchin just let his slip show a little today. On the morning talk shows, at least twice, while discussing the passage of the Covid relief bill, and the filibuster, Manchin cracked open the door. While he said that He doesn’t support completely eliminating the filibuster, because one of the things that makes the Senate the greatest body in the world in minority participation, he is more than ready to consider tweaks and changes that still respect minority participation, but don’t hamstring the rights of the  to move legislation.
Well, well. well. So King Manchin I is ready to take his power for another little spin around the kingdom, huh? Fine by me. You can disagree with me, but I’m willing to cut Manchin a little slack, he was nowhere as big of a dick as he could have been in those negotiations yesterday. He was more concerned with massaging his ego than damaging the Democrat’s bill. And right now he’s the poster child of the moderate Democratic group that includes Sinema and Tester.
Right now, if I were Chuck Schumer, the first thing I do Tuesday morning is track down Joe Manchin, grab him by the scruff of his scrawny West Virginia neck, and drag him back to Schumer’s office. Show Manchin a variety of filibuster reforms that allow for minority delay and dissent, but restrict the amount of time that the minority can delay the eventual up and down vote. And when he picks one, play him a little. Tell him how important his opinion is, and what a difference he can make with other traditionalists like Sinema and Tester. Manchi9n will lap that up like a kitten with a pint of cream. And then turn him loose to close the deal with the other moderates.
And while Manchin is busy plying his wiles on Sinema and Tester, Schumer needs to quietly work his way through the caucus, gaining assurance of universal support for filibuster reform. Get all of his ducks in a row. And when the 50 votes are in the can, drop the hammer on the filibuster reform, and get it done with shock and awe.
And once that is done, then Schumer should immediately call out H.R.1. The We The People Act of voting rights to the floor. It has already passed the House, follow all of the rules and parliamentary protocols, and ram that bad boy home while the GOP is scrambling around like a bunch of kids whose parents just returned home in the middle of a rave. What better way to show your respect and appreciation to African American voters who got you there, than to make protecting their voting rights the number 2 thing on your agenda?
Look, the Democrats can pass a huge, well thought out, popular infrastructure bill any time they like through reconciliation. Right now it appears that Manchin is in rather a magnanimous mood, and just maybe looking to mend a few bridges. There is no guarantee that the reconciliation process for infrastructure would leave him in the same position, or feeling the same way.
Strike while the iron is hot. Use Manchin while he’s ripe to reform the filibuster, and everything else falls into place. You might not even need reconciliation to hammer through a powerful infrastructure package. But that filibuster reform makes everything else, the John Lewis Voting Act, Immigration reform, Criminal Justice Reform, all become attainable as long as Schumer can hold the caucus together. Want to let Biden run the damn table in his first term, and expand your majorities in the House and Senate? Then show the flexibility, and seize the opportunity now, while it’s just sitting there.
Follow me on Twitter at @RealMurfster35
There are things they can do that will allow the logjam fans to have their bit of fun, but won’t let them stop bills that have backing. The Senate should consider those options, and make it clear that they’re meant to allow work to get done, in spite of the Tubervilles and the Cottons.
(I like the one where it’s 3/5 of the present-and-voting members, rather than 3/5 of all members.)
Brilliant! I love it! From your keys to Schumer’s eyes.
Great article Mr Murph. Cogent thinking of the sort the country needs so badly after the rampant stupidity of the Trumpler era. Too bad you’re not in government.
Just a nitpick but the tasking you’re suggesting that Schumer do while Manchin’s busy with Sinema and Tester really is the general job of the party’s whip (in this case, Dick Durbin). What Schumer really should do is go to Durbin and say, “Here’s what I need you to do” with the job and then he could add “Just give me a list of the folks who don’t listen to you and I’ll handle them.”
Of course, I don’t know how Durbin necessarily feels here; he may be quite comfortable letting his boss deal with the rank-and-file directly but, strictly speaking, this really should be something for the Whip.
Very good plan. Now is the time. Otherwise, they might as well go into recess until they can use reconciliation again.