Joe Manchin cosponsored the voting-rights bill in 2019 that he's now blocking on the grounds that the GOP doesn't like it

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Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin opposes a sweeping voting-rights bill that his party's trying to pass.

Manchin has said he objects because no Republicans back it. With him opposing, it cannot pass.

Manchin cosponsored the same bill in 2019, when it also had no GOP backers.

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Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin in 2019 cosponsored the voting-rights bill that he recently announced he would vote against, arguing for a bipartisan bill instead.

Manchin's refusal to back the For the People Act has tanked Democrats' hopes of passing sweeping election reforms. The House narrowly passed the bill in March, with zero votes from Republicans.

As the Senate is evenly divided, relying on a tiebreaking vote from Vice President Kamala Harris, Manchin can single-handedly block the bill's passage.

His opposition has infuriated many Democrats, who have spent the past few days attacking his position.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York called him "the new Mitch McConnell," referring to the Senate minority leader known for obstructionist tactics.

Tim Hogan, the former communications director for Sen. Amy Klobuchar, offered a milder response:

In an op-ed article for the Charleston Gazette-Mail on Sunday, Manchin argued that he couldn't support a voting-rights bill with no bipartisan support.

But Manchin was a cosponsor of a version of the bill introduced in 2019 that had no GOP cosponsors, a fact that his critics have highlighted.

That March, when Democrats did not have a majority in the Senate, Manchin joined 45 others in an effort led by Sen. Jeff Merkley to pass the bill.

In his op-ed article, Manchin didn't comment on whether he had changed his mind about the content of the bill, focusing on its support in the Senate.

"Today's debate about how to best protect our right to vote and to hold elections, however, is not about finding common ground, but seeking partisan advantage," he argued, appearing to rebuke his own party.

"Congressional action on federal voting rights legislation must be the result of both Democrats and Republicans coming together to find a pathway forward," he added.

He also argued against abolishing the filibuster, which Democrats would need to do to move the legislation forward with no GOP votes.

He has pushed for a narrower piece of voting-rights legislation, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, hoping it would gain more conservative support.

Commentators from Fox News' Chris Wallace to The Washington Post's opinion section have argued that it is naive to expect support from Republicans even for the more moderate bill.

With the filibuster in place, that bill would need 10 GOP votes to move forward. So far it has one supporter, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. It looks unlikely to get more, Politico reported.

Democrats are frustrated by his centrism in the face of an intransigent opposition, Politico said.

"Obviously, I'm disappointed by Senator Manchin's position," Merkley, who has for years pushed the For the People Act, said on Twitter, adding that he was "open to any conversation about the provisions of this bill."

—Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) June 6, 2021

Manchin's office did not immediately reply to Insider's request for comment.

duggtodeath on June 8th, 2021 at 14:41 UTC »

“I wouldn’t want to offend the people who planned to kill me and my colleagues.”

Randomwhitelady2 on June 8th, 2021 at 12:35 UTC »

Something is going on here. There is more than meets the eye for him to just change his position like this.

XSavage19X on June 8th, 2021 at 12:25 UTC »

Somebody should let Manchin know that Republicans in state legislatures around the country are apssing voting regulations on party line votes every day. Maybe he should follow their lead.