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Senate Democrats on brink of defeat on voting legislation despite frantic push - CNN
Jan 12, 2022 1 min, 51 secs

Voting bills are a major priority for liberal activists and voters, but Democrats have continually run up against a wall of Republican opposition in the Senate where the 50 votes that Democrats control is not enough to pass the bills as long as the filibuster remains in place.

As Democrats now push to change filibuster rules, the party is again hitting a wall, but this time from within their own ranks.

Manchin and Sinema have repeatedly voiced concerns over the long-term ramifications for the country if a majority could work its will over the minority party without being reined in by the filibuster.

And Manchin has indicated that any rules changes should only be done on a bipartisan basis.

The dynamic has created a seemingly immovable obstacle for Democrats, who hold a narrow majority in the Senate and House -- and face enormous pressure to pass voting legislation.

The party recently suffered another major blow to Biden's agenda when Manchin said he could not support the Build Back Better Act, sweeping legislation to expand the social safety net and fight climate change.

Schumer outlines next steps

Schumer outlined the next steps in the effort to pass voting legislation and change Senate rules in a memo sent to Senate Democrats on Wednesday and obtained by CNN.

In the memo, Schumer explains that the House will act first and send over to the Senate a piece of legislation that includes both the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.

The process Democrats plan to use will allow them to skip an initial procedural vote in the Senate and get onto the bill with 51 votes.

After that, though, Democrats would still need 60 votes to break a filibuster to move to final passage of the legislation, which won't happen since 10 Senate Republicans do not support the voting legislation.

At that point, Schumer could then move to change Senate rules, an effort expected to fail amid opposition from Manchin and Sinema.

'Intense' meetings with Manchin and Sinema

Democratic talks with Manchin and Sinema have been "intense," a Senate source who attended the meetings told CNN, but they have not had any breakthroughs on gutting the 60-vote threshold to pass bills that would overhaul voting laws.

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