Senate to "Shelve" Build Back Bolshevik Bill
Democrats Plot Nuking the Filibuster to Take Charge of Voting Laws Throughout Country

Too much funflation to bear.

So they're shelving the bolshevikization of the economy, but will instead "aggressively" focus on the bolshevikization of elections instead.

I hope -- pray, really -- that Republicans have forty-one votes to filibuster that nightmare. But who knows what the "reasonable" Republicans might decide to in the service of Collegiality.

And I have to tell you: I think the "rules change" discussed here is a suspension of the filibuster rule for a vote on a federal takeover of state election laws.

Leigh Ann Caldwell @LACaldwellDC

BIG NEWS: Schumer is likely to push a vote on the Build Back Better plan until next year, according to four sources familiar with the leaders' plans. w/
@JulieNBCNews

He doesn't have the votes as Manchin remains noncommittal

Schumer is still holding out hope for action on voting rights this year, multiple sources tell us. They are hoping for agreement on a rules change between four moderates who have been meeting -- Tester, Kaine, King and Manchin 2/

A spokesman to Schumer, however, says they are "still trying to do both."

All four of those people are Democrats -- well, except for King, a Maine "Independent" who caucuses with Democrats.

So they're not huddling with Republicans working on a compromise.

No, they're scheming about a "rule change," with only Democrats involved.

What could that be other than a nuclear option vote on the filibuster?

And yeah, I did all of that speculating pointlessly, because it is now reported: they're pressuring Manchin to agree to the nuclear option for a "voting rights" bill.

Senate Democrats are escalating pressure on Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to get behind using the "nuclear option" to change the filibuster and break a months-long stalemate on voting rights legislation.

The flurry of talks - including dedicating a closed-door caucus lunch to the issue despite a public focus on passing President Biden's climate and social spending bill - comes as Democrats are facing intense pressure to pass election legislation though there isn't yet a clear path forward.

A group of Democrats, tapped by Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), met with Manchin Tuesday as part of rolling discussions. But Manchin, simultaneously, is pushing for rules changes to be bipartisan and holding talks with Republicans, who are unlikely to support the sort of reform needed to get voting legislation passed.

Underscoring the frustration within the caucus, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) spoke out during the Democratic lunch, and separately on the Senate floor, about the need to pass voting rights legislation before taking up the Build Back Better legislation and that it would be "irresponsible" for Democrats not to act.

Manchin has previously resisted these demands. I don't know of a reason why he'd suddenly give in, now that he's sort of calling the shots on the Democrat side of the Senate, but who knows, maybe he will decide to be magnanimous in victory.

Clarification: They would only need Democrat votes to nuke the filibuster.

It would work like this (sort of, I'm shaky on the exact process): They would present a motion stating that the filibuster will be set aside. The parlimentarian would rule the motion out-of-order. But then they would vote to overrule her ruling, which only takes a simple majority. If they have all fifty Democrats voting, Kumala would finally be Positioned for Success to cast the tiebreaking vote to overrule the parlimentarian and set the filibuster aside, or end it.

I assume what they're pitching Manchin is the idea of keeping the filibuster generally -- he's opposed to scrapping it -- but just suspending it for this one Very Special Vote Because Reasons.

Senate to "Shelve" Build Back Bolshevik Bill
Democrats Plot Nuking the Filibuster to Take Charge of Voting Laws Throughout Country&bodytext= Too much funflation to bear. So they're shelving the bolshevikization of the economy, but will instead "aggressively" focus on the bolshevikization of elections instead. I hope -- pray, really -- that Republicans have forty-one votes to filibuster that nightmare....&topic=world_news"> posted by Ace at 12:23 PM

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