happening in politics. i m curious your take on what is the political headline of 2022 that has yet to be written, my friend? that s a tough one. one of my editors or me ends up writing it. i think the thing is going to be with the democratic leaders really listen to their voters and listen to advocate within their party saying things, just like you said, getting rid of the filibuster or figuring out a way to carve out a voting rights exception in the filibuster to get voting rights done, and whether or not joe manchin or whether or not other democrats accept what joe manchin is willing to give them on build back better. those are the two things that are going to be able to get done if democrats want them. that is a strong that is going to depend on president biden pushing joe manchin and kyrsten sinema on the filibuster. kyrsten sinema right now i think is the staunchest advocate for the fill buster in the democratic party. and then you have how much the
we do need to reform and get rid of it. that is something that i believe will eventually happen. but this week, i think the path has to be a voting rights exception, some opportunity to allow these critical pieces of voting rights legislation to get an up or down vote. congressman and maya, appreciate you both as we try to both reflect this day, which matters, and also look beyond history to what s happening right now. i appreciate both of you. coming up, we have the maga riot probe update. neal katyal is here. and later, why democrats say they re going to start the year going on offense. and by the end of the hour the rabbi in the texas synagogue hostage situation discussing that dramatic rescue. stay with us. stay with us
in its entirety particularly given its history dripping in racism connected to the protection of slavery and jim crow. but we re saying at this moment is that there are already exceptions that exist to the filibuster. the budget reconciliation process is an exception to the filibuster. republicans used it in 2017 to pass the gop tax scam where 83% of the benefits went to the 1% to subsidize the lifestyles of the rich and famous. there s a judiciary exception to the filibuster. republicans have used it twice to steal two supreme court justices, one from president obama, one from president biden. so all we re saying is that at least the least that we can do is have a voting rights exception, a democracy exception to the filibuster as well. hopefully that argument will prevail upon senators manchin and sinema. okay, so something i know on saturdays you do your congressman on the corner in
legislation. he said we would lose democracy if we lose the filibuster. what do you say to that? i think there is another path. i think we can change the rules of the filibuster, as they have been changed a number of times in the past. for example, you can pass a fast-track trade bill on a simple majority vote. you can pass the, you know, nomination of a supreme court justice or a federal judge or a budget reconciliation deal on a simple-majority vote. add one more exception to that filibuster, and make it a voting rights exception. there was some good news yesterday. and i think, thanks to the leadership of senator raphael warnock of georgia, he was able to bring senator manchin, senator schumer, and others to the table. and it looks like they are coming forward with something that they can all, as democrats, agree upon. and with that political majority in the senate, that means that they amend the rule to the filibuster. they can pass voting rights legislation, like the for the peo
simple majority, supreme court justices, budget deals. make a fifth exception for voting rights legislation. and it s going to require all 50 democrats in the senate, including the two senators you just mentioned to do that. but i think there s one more player that we need to engage in this more fully and that s the president. i think his extraordinary power can help compel those and other senators to vote for that voting rights exception. and he can also make that case to the country uniquely hopefully bring in not just democrats to the table but democrats and republicans to the table. that s what it took to get the voting rights act of 65 passed. you need the full engagement of lbj calling that joint session of congress 1965 and then using every political muscle in his body to push that through. that s what we need at this point. but you re right, in terms of the specific path this has to take, it s not going to happen without a change to the