today together along with jesse jackson, al sharpton, many leaders from georgia. and we stand united with with all the voting rights leaders in georgia about the need for the words today to lead to actions. clear on that. what i hear from manchin in those comments i think is different maybe than what you heard. he said he is open to rules changes. manchin is a very sophisticated speaker. you got to remember he was for sorry, he was against what is now called the freedom to vote act. before he helped author this current version, and now is for it. he is somebody who is already moved on the arc and i believe he will move further. today wouldn t have happened without hundreds of thousands of activist demanding the president do it. wouldn t have happened without hundreds going to jail outside the white house, including martin luther king iii who was there today who reminded all of us many times that his father had to make johnson president
like it s gonna happen. listen to senator joe manchin today. we need some good rule changes to make the place work better. but getting rid of the filibuster doesn t make it work better. okay. getting rid of the filibuster doesn t make it work better. that is today. and senator kyrsten sinema s office released a statement weeks ago, making her position clear. she is in favor of voting rights ledge slagsz, she says, but she, quote, continues to support the senate s 60-vote threshold to protect the country from repeated radical reversals in federal policy. that is why i said theoretically to describe democratic support of biden s voting bill. because when you hear the statement from sinema the words from manchin, it is clear biden s push for voting rights was dead well before he left the white house this morning. and complicating matters even more, multiple high-profile voting rights leaders actually skipped biden s speech. maybe sort of surprising to you but the biggest thing, of c
leader within that movement, internally. i think it s especially true with voting, rights especially because they have the backing of all these folks on the outside. the voting rights leaders, the civil rights leaders, activists, the members of the king family. there s no reason for them to capitulate to anybody, at this point. because, at some point joe manchin and progressives have to get some sort of steamroll page to get something done. those activists groups, what massively important, don t have a vote. manchin and sinema do. the argument they would make is that the two folks, versus thousands and thousands of people across the country, who are asking for those voting rights to be passed, asking for measures of the build build back better build in elections, this cycle, and next. if you want those thousands and thousands of votes for years to come, you better deliver. phil, alexei, check, always good to have. you were gonna leave it there. coming up, we have a lot more to
excuse me. asking about progressives? they re going to continue employing the leverage they have as caucus. the progressive caucus has been moving as block in the entire session and don t see that going anymore with congresswoman jayapal a leader in the movement. voting rights they have the backing of the voting rights leaders, civil rights leaders, activists and members of the king family. there s no reason to capitulate at this point. at some point joe manchin and progressives have to get on the same page, those groups are important but don t have vote. argument they would make is two folks versuses thousands across the country is asking for the laws and measures to be
are vaccinated but you still get infected. we have to come together. the idea of calling it a pandemic of the unvaccinated leads to the mandates, the super imposition of big government. i don t think it works. harris: thanks for being with me to break down the breaking news and more today. always good to have you in focus. great to be with you, harris. harris: president biden and vice president kamala harris are headed to atlanta, georgia today in a push to pass democrats voting rights legislation which would federalize elections taking power away from the states. georgia at the forefront of election integrity of voter fraud battles and now set to be the stage for the president s aim at an elections overhaul. some notable no-shows for today s event. voting rights leaders planning to skip the spectacle in protest of what they say is administration inaction. this is an interesting twist. georgia s democrat governor candidate stacey abrams will