the, stuff there is a lot of optimism that senator manchin is coming around, that members of the more moderate part of the republican party are coming to some kind of different voting rights proposals, and we can get some bills on the table. and people have put obvious proposals out there, that if you re concerned about your precious filibuster, just carve you can keep the filibuster. but mark, this is a little inside and outside the beltway. stuff the average american doesn t care about the filibuster. the potential damage that everybody at the capitol hill is worried about them getting rid of the filibuster, i don t think it s a real thing out there in america. ali, i ve done campaigns for over 30 years and more of a than 100 of them. and not once in 30 years have i ever heard voters say, please protect the filibuster. nobody outside washington has an idea of what it is. it s the most inside washington thing there is. and listen, the practical reality is, don s, right i
that senator manchin is coming around, that members of the more moderate part of the republican party are coming around to some different voting rights proposals. and that we can get some votes on the table. right. and people have put obvious proposals out of there. mark, this is inside and outside the beltway stuff. the average american doesn t care about the filibuster. the potential damage that everybody on capitol hill is worried about if they get rid of the filibuster, i don t think it s a real thing out there in america. well, ali, i ve done campaigns for over 30 years. probably done more than a hundred of them, and not once have i heard a voter say, please protect the filibuster. nobody outside washington has any idea what it is. it s the most inside washington thing there is, and the listen, the practical realities are, it s a movement, more than
justice department. this is no longer bill barr s justice department. this is one that contains people like vanita gupta, kristen clark, ready to go and enforce these laws. senator, i want to follow up on something you just said. one way to pass the legislation you re talking about, voting rights legislation, with only 51 votes, is through a process known as reconciliation. and whip jim clyburn has been floating the idea to pass voting rights that way. are you saying you think senate ru rules would allow you to pass at least some of the voting rights proposals and provisions through reconciliation? that process, to be clear, is no substitute for the for the people act. it isn t. the for the people act is grounded in the constitution that says congress can set and alter federal rules for electrics. but if you can t get that done? if you can t what you can do with infrastructure, not in the bipartisan package, and i m glad they re continuing to
these laws. senator, i want to follow up on something you just said. one way to pass the legislation you re talking about, voting rights legislation, with only 51 votes, is through a process known as reconciliation. house democratic whip jim clyburn has been floating the idea to pass voting rights that way. are you saying you think senate rules would allow you to pass at least some of the voting rights proposals and provisions through reconciliation? that process, to be clear, is no substitute for the for the people act. it isn t. the for the people act is grounded in the constitution that says congress can set and alter federal rules for elections. but if you can t get that done? if you can t what you can do with infrastructure, not in the bipartisan package, and i m glad they re continuing to negotiate and make progress. what you can do is put election infrastructure in there. you could tie it to certain things as incentives for states
senator and friend susan collins did not say yesterday when she stands and another of republican senators did not believe federal intervention was necessary at all and was skeptical or opposed. this bill is facing a tough climb to 60 votes and it s not exactly the bipartisan panacea senator manchin might have wanted for voting rights. speaker pelosi and other democrats don t view the john lewis bill as a substitute for s-1. they believe that needs to pass anyway. this is a bind democrats are in now. neither of their major voting rights proposals has a path to passage while the filibuster remains and manchin has made clear he is not backing down in his opposition to the for the people act and resolute against abolishing the 60-vote threshold in the senate. thanks so much. appreciate it. it s primary day in new jersey and the state had to get creative to find people who would actually work the polls. we were at a point just prior