美国总统拜登(Joe Biden)周四前往国会山，试图说服民主党议员支持对参议院规则的一项重大修改，该修改将允许投票权立法向前推进，但两名关键的民主党参议员再次拒绝了这一想法。
这次旅行冒着他的政治资本的风险发表热情洋溢的演讲周二，他表示除了让参议员取消阻挠议事如果不能以另一种方式推进法案，则需要60票，而不是简单的50票多数才能推进大多数立法。
“在过去的两个月里，我一直在与国会议员进行这些安静的对话，”他周二表示。“我厌倦了安静!”
帕特里克·塞曼斯基/美联社
乔·拜登总统发言支持改变参议院阻挠议事规则..
但拜登很快面临着一场将言辞转化为行动的失败之战，因为两位民主党参议员——西弗吉尼亚州的乔·曼钦和亚利桑那州的基尔斯顿·西内马——重申了他们坚决反对改变阻挠议事的立场。
就在他周四前往国会山的时候，西内马在参议院发表了演讲，表示她不支持改变规则。
“我没有必要重申我对通过立法的60票门槛的长期支持。我没有必要重申它在保护我们的国家免受联邦政策疯狂逆转的影响方面的作用。“本周关于参议院规则的激烈讨论只是一个拙劣的替代品，我认为，在过去一年的任何时候，这都是一场深思熟虑的公开辩论。”
她补充说:“要求消除这一门槛，无论是哪一方占据短暂的多数，都相当于一群人被隔离在峡谷的两侧，向他们的同事大喊这一解决方案。
不久后，曼钦告诉记者，他认为西内玛在她的发言中做得“很好”，并表示参议院需要“规则改变”，但“不能摆脱阻挠议事”——这在拜登抵达国会参加民主党党团午餐之前就给了他一个打击。
从与参议院民主党人的闭门会议中走出来后，拜登说，“对上帝诚实的回答是，我不知道我们能否做到这一点。”他补充说，“我希望我们能完成这项工作，但我不确定。但有一点是肯定的，有一点是肯定的。像其他出现的主要民权法案一样，如果我们错过了第一次，我们可以回来再试一次。这次我们错过了。”
他提到共和党领导的各州努力通过更严格的投票法。“州立法机构继续修改法律，不是关于谁可以投票，而是谁可以计算选票。清点选票。清点选票。这是关于选举颠覆，而不仅仅是人们是否能投票:谁来计算选票。这就是原因。这就是我们所做的一切与众不同的原因。”
当晚，曼钦和西内马在白宫与拜登进行了一个多小时的会晤。
尽管拜登所在的政党拒不让步，但他本周明确表示，如果他未能获得投票权，他认为谁将受到指责:共和党人，他周二表示，如果他们阻止这些法案，他们将选择站在推进民权的一边。
所有50名共和党参议员都反对这些法案，民主党人表示，需要这些法案来建立国家标准，使投票更容易进行，并检查新的州法律，这些法律使少数群体成员和其他人更难投票。
参议院少数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)周三似乎明显愤怒，他抨击了拜登的讲话，称其“非常非常不明智”他认为这些言论是一种“咆哮”，是“不连贯的、不正确的，有失他的身份”。
当被美国广播公司新闻问到麦康奈尔的指责时，拜登说:“我喜欢米奇·麦康奈尔。他是我的朋友。”
尽管拜登支持阻挠议事，但参议院多数党领袖查克·舒默(Chuck Schumer)周三宣布，民主党计划利用现有规则阻止共和党人利用阻挠议事阻止辩论开始。
众议院民主党人预计将以《投票自由法》和《约翰·刘易斯投票权推进法》取代现有的一项立法——这项立法不需要进行辩论投票，从而使他们能够绕过共和党人阻止这项立法进行辩论的企图。
舒默周三在给民主党核心小组的备忘录中写道:“参议院最终将辩论投票权立法，然后每位参议员都将面临是否通过该立法以保护我们的民主的选择。
尽管如此，共和党人将有另一个机会在辩论结束前通过阻挠议案通过。如果不改变阻挠议事的规则，这项立法仍需要60票才能通过。
拜登是参议院的资深议员，自称是“制度主义者”，在他担任总统的第一年，他对阻挠议事的看法发生了变化。
在今年3月的一次采访中，拜登告诉美国广播公司新闻记者乔治·斯特凡诺普洛斯，他支持恢复“说话阻挠议事”，这是一种要求参议员“站起来指挥会议”和“继续说话”以阻止立法的规则。
拜登在10月的美国有线电视新闻网市政厅会议上走得更远，他指出，他将对在投票权等具有特殊重要性的问题上“从根本上改变”阻挠议事的做法持开放态度。
但拜登最明确的评论是在12月与美国广播公司新闻记者大卫·穆尔(David Muir)交谈时发表的，他表示，如果阻挠议案通过是“唯一的”障碍，他将支持阻挠议案通过，以便通过投票权立法。
“如果在获得投票权立法通过和未获通过之间唯一的障碍是阻挠议事，我支持将阻挠议事的投票权作为例外，”拜登告诉穆尔。
Sinema, Manchin reject Biden push to change filibuster for voting rights
As President Joe Biden headed to Capitol Hill on Thursday in an attempt to persuade Democratic lawmakers to back a major change to the Senate's rules that would allow voting rights legislation to move forward, two key Democratic senators again rejected the idea.
Making the trip risked his political capital, afterdelivering an impassioned speechTuesday in which he said there was "no option" except for senators todo away with the filibuster-- a rule that requires 60 votes, rather than a simple majority of 50, to advance most legislation -- if the bills could not be advanced another way.
"I've been having these quiet conversations with members of Congress for the last two months," he said Tuesday. "I'm tired of being quiet!"
But Biden quickly faced a losing battle in transforming his rhetoric into action as a pair of Democratic senators -- Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona -- repeated their steadfast opposition to changing the filibuster.
Even as he headed to Capitol Hill Thursday, Sinema made a Senate floor speech saying she would not support changing the rule.
"There's no need for me to restate my longstanding support for the 60-vote threshold to pass legislation. There's no need for me to restate its role in protecting our country from wild reversals of federal policy," Sinema said. "This week's harried discussions about Senate rules are but a poor substitute for what I believe could have and should have been a thoughtful public debate at any time over the past year."
Pool/ABC News
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, speaks on Capitol Hill, in Washington, D.C., Jan. 13, 2022.
"Demands to eliminate this threshold from whichever party holds the fleeting majority amount to a group of people separated on two sides of a canyon, shouting that solution to their colleagues," she added.
And soon after, Manchin told reporters he thought Sinema did a "great job" in her floor speech and said that the Senate needs "rules changes" but "not getting rid of the filibuster" -- a blow to Biden before he even arrived on the Hill for the Democratic caucus lunch.
After emerging from the closed-door meeting with Senate Democrats, Biden said, "The honest to God answer is, I don’t know whether we can get this done." He added, "I hope we can get this done, but I'm not sure. But one thing for certain, one thing for certain. Like every other major civil rights bill that came along, if we miss the first time, we can come back and try it a second time. We missed this time."
He referred to efforts in Republican-led states to pass more restrictive voting laws. "The state legislative bodies continue to change the law, not as to who can vote, but who gets to count the vote. Count the vote. Count the vote. It's about election subversion, not just whether or not people get to vote: who counts the vote. That's what it's about. That's what makes this so different than anything else we’ve ever done."
In the evening, Manchin and Sinema met with Biden at the White House for over an hour.
Despite the holdouts in his own party, Biden has made clear this week who he thinks would be to blame if he's unsuccessful in getting voting rights through: Republicans, who he said Tuesday were choosing the side of standing in the way of advancing civil rights if they block the bills.
And all 50 Republican senators oppose the bills, which Democrats say are needed to create national standards for making voting more accessible and to put a check on new state laws that make it more difficult for members of minority groups and others to cast their ballots.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared visibly angry Wednesday as he blasted Biden's speech, calling it "profoundly, profoundly unpresidential." He deemed the remarks a "rant" that "was incoherent, incorrect and beneath his office."
When asked by ABC News about McConnell's rebuke, Biden said: "I like Mitch McConnell. He's a friend."
Despite Biden's support for a carveout to the filibuster, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Wednesday that Democrats planned to use existing rules to prevent Republicans from using the filibuster to block debate from starting.
House Democrats are expected to replace an existing piece of legislation -- one that would not require a vote for debate to begin -- with both the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, allowing them to bypass Republicans' attempts to block the legislation from debate.
"The Senate will finally debate voting rights legislation, and then every Senator will be faced with a choice of whether or not to pass the legislation to protect our democracy," Schumer wrote in a memo to the Democratic Caucus Wednesday.
Still, Republicans will have another opportunity to block the bill from passing by filibustering before debate ends. Without changing the rules around the filibuster, the legislation will still require 60 votes to pass.
Biden, a veteran of the Senate and a self-described "institutionalist," has undergone an evolution in his view of the filibuster during the first year as president.
In an interview in March, Biden told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos that he supports bringing back the "talking filibuster," a version of the rule that would require a senator to "stand up and command the floor" and "keep talking" in order to hold up legislation.
Biden went further during a CNN town hall in October, noting that he would be open to "fundamentally altering" the filibuster on issues of particular consequence like voting rights.
But Biden's most definitive comments came in December while speaking with ABC News' David Muir, saying he would support a carveout to the filibuster in order to pass the voting rights legislation if that was the "only thing" standing in the way.
"If the only thing standing between getting voting rights legislation passed and not getting passed is the filibuster, I support making the exception of voting rights for the filibuster," Biden told Muir.
As President Joe Biden headed to Capitol Hill on Thursday in an attempt to persuade Democratic lawmakers to back a major change to the Senate's rules that would allow voting rights legislation to move forward, two key Democratic senators again rejected the idea.
Making the trip risked his political capital, afterdelivering an impassioned speechTuesday in which he said there was "no option" except for senators todo away with the filibuster-- a rule that requires 60 votes, rather than a simple majority of 50, to advance most legislation -- if the bills could not be advanced another way.
"I've been having these quiet conversations with members of Congress for the last two months," he said Tuesday. "I'm tired of being quiet!"
President Joe Biden speaks in support of changing the Senate filibuster rules that have st...
undefinedMORE: Biden says he supports changing filibuster rule to pass voting rights bills
Pres. Biden arrives on Capitol Hill to meet with Democratic lawmakers to discuss a major change to the Senate's rules that would allow a pair of voting rights bills to move forward.https://t.co/4V7dESKgjhpic.twitter.com/1gbgbqud7x
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics)January 13, 2022
But Biden quickly faced a losing battle in transforming his rhetoric into action as a pair of Democratic senators -- Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona -- repeated their steadfast opposition to changing the filibuster.
Even as he headed to Capitol Hill Thursday, Sinema made a Senate floor speech saying she would not support changing the rule.
"There's no need for me to restate my longstanding support for the 60-vote threshold to pass legislation. There's no need for me to restate its role in protecting our country from wild reversals of federal policy," Sinema said. "This week's harried discussions about Senate rules are but a poor substitute for what I believe could have and should have been a thoughtful public debate at any time over the past year."
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, speaks on Capitol Hill, in Washington, D.C., Jan. 13, 2022.
"Demands to eliminate this threshold from whichever party holds the fleeting majority amount to a group of people separated on two sides of a canyon, shouting that solution to their colleagues," she added.
And soon after, Manchin told reporters he thought Sinema did a "great job" in her floor speech and said that the Senate needs "rules changes" but "not getting rid of the filibuster" -- a blow to Biden before he even arrived on the Hill for the Democratic caucus lunch.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema praises proposed voting rights bills but reiterates support for filibuster rule, saying "I will not support separate actions that worsen the underlying disease of division infecting our country."https://t.co/p3f0IhDfd4pic.twitter.com/bguGTTWWhE
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics)January 13, 2022
After emerging from the closed-door meeting with Senate Democrats, Biden said, "The honest to God answer is, I don’t know whether we can get this done." He added, "I hope we can get this done, but I'm not sure. But one thing for certain, one thing for certain. Like every other major civil rights bill that came along, if we miss the first time, we can come back and try it a second time. We missed this time."
He referred to efforts in Republican-led states to pass more restrictive voting laws. "The state legislative bodies continue to change the law, not as to who can vote, but who gets to count the vote. Count the vote. Count the vote. It's about election subversion, not just whether or not people get to vote: who counts the vote. That's what it's about. That's what makes this so different than anything else we’ve ever done."
In the evening, Manchin and Sinema met with Biden at the White House for over an hour.
Despite the holdouts in his own party, Biden has made clear this week who he thinks would be to blame if he's unsuccessful in getting voting rights through: Republicans, who he said Tuesday were choosing the side of standing in the way of advancing civil rights if they block the bills.
undefinedMORE: What is the Senate filibuster? And why the calls to change it?
And all 50 Republican senators oppose the bills, which Democrats say are needed to create national standards for making voting more accessible and to put a check on new state laws that make it more difficult for members of minority groups and others to cast their ballots.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks on the senate floor on Jan. 12, 2022, in...
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared visibly angry Wednesday as he blasted Biden's speech, calling it "profoundly, profoundly unpresidential." He deemed the remarks a "rant" that "was incoherent, incorrect and beneath his office."
When asked by ABC News about McConnell's rebuke, Biden said: "I like Mitch McConnell. He's a friend."
Despite Biden's support for a carveout to the filibuster, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Wednesday that Democrats planned to use existing rules to prevent Republicans from using the filibuster to block debate from starting.
undefinedMORE: McConnell blasts Biden's voting rights speech as 'rage and false hysteria'
House Democrats are expected to replace an existing piece of legislation -- one that would not require a vote for debate to begin -- with both the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, allowing them to bypass Republicans' attempts to block the legislation from debate.
"The Senate will finally debate voting rights legislation, and then every Senator will be faced with a choice of whether or not to pass the legislation to protect our democracy," Schumer wrote in a memo to the Democratic Caucus Wednesday.
Still, Republicans will have another opportunity to block the bill from passing by filibustering before debate ends. Without changing the rules around the filibuster, the legislation will still require 60 votes to pass.
President Joe Biden speaks to a crowd at the Atlanta University Center Consortium, part...
Biden, a veteran of the Senate and a self-described "institutionalist," has undergone an evolution in his view of the filibuster during the first year as president.
In an interview in March, Biden told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos that he supports bringing back the "talking filibuster," a version of the rule that would require a senator to "stand up and command the floor" and "keep talking" in order to hold up legislation.
undefinedMORE: What is the Senate filibuster? And why the calls to change it?
Biden went further during a CNN town hall in October, noting that he would be open to "fundamentally altering" the filibuster on issues of particular consequence like voting rights.
But Biden's most definitive comments came in December while speaking with ABC News' David Muir, saying he would support a carveout to the filibuster in order to pass the voting rights legislation if that was the "only thing" standing in the way.
"If the only thing standing between getting voting rights legislation passed and not getting passed is the filibuster, I support making the exception of voting rights for the filibuster," Biden told Muir.
ABC News' Trish Turner and Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.
