which was characterised by filibustering, excessive ones, and violence was incited in the legislative council chamber. and right now, with the new legco, we are three weeks into swearing in and the environment is a lot better now. the chief executive came to the legislative council for an increased session two weeks ago, and there are a lot of enquiries from different legco members asking them about different social issues. so the legco right now is more focused on solving socioeconomic issues in hong kong, as opposed to just quarrelling and political debates like previously in legco. right, i was wondering to myself whether you would use the word democracy, and i notice you didn t. so any pretence that hong kong was moving to a more democratic, pluralistic system, that s been abandoned, has it? i don t agree with what you
back when they were filibustering, when strom thursday thurmond set the record in 1957, he had to stand on the floor. bret: that s right. the u.s [inaudible conversations] the u.s. technically, obviously, is a constitutional federal republic. democrats last time they were in the minority, just the last time, used the filibuster the 270 times, and one of them was to block a police reform bill put forward by a black republican senator, tim scott, from your state. well, you know, you can call it justice act, you can call it anything you want to call it. now, i don t know exactly what was contained in that law, but when you filibuster in order to get time so that people can bring people around to your point of view, that s one thing. but that is still a policy. that s not stopping anybody from
freedom to vote act is joe manchin s legislation. am i to understand that joe manchin is going to protect or subject his legislation to a filibuster? their filibustering his bill. the house bill is already been defeated and the president has endorsed his bill. stacey abrams in georgia endorsed joe manchin s bill, and so have i. but now, joe manchin seems to be walking away from his own bill. so, what s the issue here? have you talked to to i mean, do you talk to senator manchin personally about about this? oh, not about his bill. i did talk to him for maybe on hour some time ago over this issue. and joe manchin and i have known each other for a long time. so, talking to joe is no is nothing unusual for me. chairman clyburn, i really
senate seat because of that rule. so, i would say that you have to always be careful what you pray for. well, senate majority leader chuck schumer has promised a vote on changing the filibuster to advance voting rights legislation by martin luther king jr. day, which is six days from now. the same time, senator manchin and sinema they have really given no signs, publicly, they ll consider changing senate rules. so, if they refuse to budge, is there any value in holding the vote? well, i don t know. you know, i don t get mixed up in the senate rules. i do know this that the president came out today with a full-throated endorsement of joe manchin s bill, the so-called freedom to vote act is joe manchin s legislation. am i to understand that joe manchin is going to protect or subject his legislation to a fu fully bisuster? their filibustering his bill.
bring people around to your point of view, that s one thing, but that is still a policy. that s not stopping anybody from voting. that s not a constitutional issue. i have said that the filibuster ought not be applied to constitutional issues like voting. we do not allow the filibuster to get in the way of the full faith and credit of the united states of america because it will jeopardize the future of this country. i mean, maria, doesn t the majority whip have a point? i mean, why should the filibuster be applied to constitutional issues? no, absolutely. i think everybody in this country has had it up to here with the filibuster honestly at this point, and he s correct in saying that filibustering is not in and of itself going to deny people the right to vote. you know, jonathan, for me, again, this week has been so intense as we re trying to kind