This just broke on The Rachel Maddow Show just before her handoff to Lawrence O’Donnell. The Senate was supposed to have the week off next week. Hell, why not? They just had three weeks off two weeks ago, why not burn another one on MLK Day.

But he took to the floor of the Senate to announce that the Senate will delay its previously scheduled recess, and instead reconvene on the floor Tuesday morning to consider coting rights. Manchin and Sinema have pushed the envelope as far as it can go. It’s about to see if they’ll actually tear it.

Schumer is already a bird of ruffled plumage. Hell, he wanted to get all of this procedural bullshit out of the way today and tomorrow, and hold the final, telling vote n MLK Day, to put more pressure on Manchin and Sinema. But then Democratic Senator Brian Schatz tested positive for Covid, and Schumer didn’t have a 50 vote majority anymore. But apparently Schatz thinks he’ll be cleared for duty by Tuesday.

Schumer and Biden both have good reason to be regally pissed. Biden made it clear almost 48 hours ago that he was going to the Capitol to address the weekly Senate caucus lunch on the issue of voting rights. And before he was even wheels up from the White House, Sinema took to the Senate floor to shed b-movie starlet tears that she would not support any changes to the 60 vote threshold. That breach of protocol alone is blinding proof that she is unqualified to be a sitting US Senator.

I an so glad to see that Schumer is finally forcing this issue, simply because he is out of both time and options. He has literally spent months negotiating with these two knuckleheads. But you know what? I can stand on the second floor landing of my apartment building with a Glock, and threaten to shoot anybody who dares to trespass on my landing! And that will garner a helluva lot of attention. But it isn’t until a tenant or a cop starts climbing the stairs that we all find out if I’m really that crazy and stupid, or just full of shit.

And that’s where Schumer is putting Manchin and Sinema. And the closer this showdown looms, the more I am reminded of the scene in the remarkable Spielberg film, Lincoln. They are holding the floor vote on the Emancipation Proclamation, and they call the name of the swing vote, a young guy who has been ruthlessly lobbied by both sides. He is frozen on his feet. They have to say his name 3 tomes, and on the 3rd time, he finally bellows out, Yes! Yes! Dammit, yes! Are you satisfied now? after which he collapses back into his chair. The weight of history and the constitution have a funny way of weighing on you.

But whatever way this goes, it’s not over. If they see the light, then Biden signs the voting rights legislation, and the activists are motivated through the roof. But if either one or both of them vote no, we have time. Schumer can call the rules change back to the floor for another vote at any time. The vote will show the world who the two traitors are. Manchin and Sinema have both been stupid and insecure enough to make public their displeasure at being accosted by activists for their views on the filibuster. Let’s see how they like having activists camped outside of their homes and McYachts 24/7 for a couple of weeks, and then try this again.

I hope like hell that Brian Schatz is ready for battle by Tuesday. Because this reckoning has been long past coming. Once Schumer holds that vote, if it doesn’t pass, it becomes the overriding item on the agenda. And we can keep the pressure on. They’ll crack eventually.

 

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6 COMMENTS

  1. Disgusting as this has been to watch, you HAVE to figure Biden and Schumer were prepared for this possibility. Put up or shut up time has arrived for Manchin and Sinema. Either one wants to survive, they’ll do as they’re told by the leaders of their party.

  2. I hope that Chuck Schumer or SOMEBODY has the ethics people check out where Sinema and Manchin are getting their spending money. Is it legal? Do they want their constituents to know?

  3. I am so sick of the entitled obstruction twins. I think they’re totally beholden to their corporate sponsors and in Manchin’s case coal, they don’t care about their constituents. The fact that Manchin’s constituents confronted him while he was looking down on them from his yacht and later had the audacity to say they would use the child credits for drugs or take advantage of sick days to go hunting shows he is so disconnected from reality and the struggles that normal people have to go through just to make it in this crazy world. Its sickening that they want to uphold this antiquated, racist procedure and then claim bipartisanship when anytime republicans get in power they throw away those rules like they want to throw away people of color votes.
    I don’t want to have to tell my grandchildren of the before times, when we used to pick the people who represent us in government and we had a semblance of autonomy and rights. Democrats need to get their message out, strong and loud. The republican party is a terrorist organization and they are coming for your rights. Their cult thinks they’re exempt but once they get us rabble-rousers out of the way, they’re coming for them and their guns next. Sorry for the mini rant, I’m just so disgusted and angry about what’s going on. As a black woman I take all of this VERY personally.

  4. Who the hell do Sinema & Manchin think they are , who is lining their pockets ? They should be kicked out of office . They call themselves Democrats , who are they kidding ? I hope their states are listening to what they are doing and vote them out !

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