Senator Joe Manchin@Sen_JoeManchin
When Democrats wanted to eliminate the filibuster in 2022, I stood my ground because I understood the consequences of turning the Senate into a glorified House with simple majority rule. Senator John Cornyn said of Democrats at the time: “They'll soon find themselves rueing the day their party broke the Senate.”
The filibuster exists to make both sides work together and produce good legislation that can withstand the test of time. Eliminating the filibuster would consolidate even more power into the hands of the majority party’s leadership — and take power away from the minority and everyday Americans.
When I was a U.S. Senator, there was not another person more committed to keeping the filibuster than Senator John Cornyn. He understood the incredible political pressure I faced from my former party to get rid of the filibuster and give Democrats complete power — and at the time, he understood why neither party should take our country past this point of no return.
The filibuster — the soul of the Senate — has preserved the Senate’s role for nearly 250 years as the institution that cools passions, protects minority voices, and demands consensus. America was built on institutions designed to resist political convenience, not surrender to it.
It’s deeply disappointing to see that Senator Cornyn is now willing to scrap the very rule he once praised and personally thanked me for defending. These extreme election-year politics that put party power over everything else are why Americans are sick and tired of the duopoly of the two-party system of Democrats and Republicans.
