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Rep. Jamaal Bowman calls Sen. Joe Manchin 'the new Mitch McConnell' and accuses him of 'doing everything in his power to stop democracy'

Jun 7, 2021, 21:52 IST
Business Insider
Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York.Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
  • Rep. Jamaal Bowman blasted Joe Manchin as "the new Mitch McConnell" for his opposition to S.1.
  • Bowman said that Manchin "is doing the work of the Republican Party by being an obstructionist."
  • Manchin's support of the filibuster seriously imperils the passage of the For the People Act.
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Rep. Jamaal Bowman on Monday called Sen. Joe Manchin "the new Mitch McConnell," blasting the West Virginia Democrat for his opposition to the party's sweeping voting-rights bill and his continued support of the legislative filibuster.

During an interview on CNN's "New Day," Bowman accused Manchin of following in the footsteps of GOP Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a highly-tactical Kentucky politician who thwarted many of former President Barack Obama's legislative initiatives and looks to do the same under President Joe Biden.

"Joe Manchin has become the new Mitch McConnell," the New York lawmaker said. "Mitch McConnell during Obama's presidency said he would do everything in his power to stop Obama. He's also repeated that now during the Biden presidency by saying he would do everything in his power to stop President Biden, and now Joe Manchin is doing everything in his power to stop democracy and to stop our work for the people ... the work that the people sent us here to do."

Bowman added: "Manchin is not pushing us closer to bipartisanship. He is doing the work of the Republican Party by being an obstructionist, just like they've been since the beginning of Biden's presidency."

Bowman's comments come as many Democrats have expressed frustration regarding Manchin's opposition to the For the People Act, one of the party's top priorities this year.

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The legislation would end partisan gerrymandering, expand early and absentee voting, establish national standards for voter registration, and blunt voter purges. The bill would also mandate that states offer mail-in ballots and same-day voter registration, which Republicans have long resisted in many places.

In declaring his opposition to the For the People Act, Manchin is defying Democratic pleas for federal action on securing voting rights, which the party says is necessary to counter the raft of restrictive voting laws championed by the GOP at the state level.

In a Sunday opinion piece in the Charleston Gazette-Mail, Manchin deemed the bill, also known as S.1., as overly partisan.

"The right to vote is fundamental to our American democracy, and protecting that right should not be about party or politics," he wrote. "Least of all, protecting this right, which is a value I share, should never be done in a partisan manner."

Read more: Get to know the Delaware senator who's known Biden for 47 years and could be key to passing his infrastructure package

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Biden has called for the passage of S.1., but Manchin's opposition to the bill seriously imperils its chances of passing in the Senate.

In the CNN interview, Bowman called the filibuster a "Jim Crow, white supremacist relic," and said that after reaching out to Manchin's office to speak with him about "saving and rescuing our democracy," he had yet to receive aa response.

"It's easy for us to say what we're not going to vote for, what we're not going to do," Bowman said. "It's much harder to build a coalition to meet the needs of our democracy."

In March, the House passed the For the People Act in a near party-line 220-210 vote.

Republicans have uniformly denounced the legislation.

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In April, GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina called the bill "the biggest power grab in modern American history."

Former President Donald Trump, who pleaded with McConnell to nix the filibuster while in office, on Monday thanked Manchin for his position on keeping the legislative tool.

"He's doing the right thing, and it's a very important thing," Trump said on Fox Business.

Democrats and Republicans each have 50 seats in the Senate, with Democrats controlling the chamber because of Vice President Kamala Harris' tiebreaking vote.

The voting-rights bill, however, would have to clear the 60-vote threshold to withstand a legislative filibuster and proceed to a vote where it could pass with a simple majority.

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Manchin, for his part, sees potential in the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, a bipartisan elections bill that he supports and hopes to see signed into law by Biden.

"I continue to engage with my Republican and Democratic colleagues about the value of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and I am encouraged by the desire from both sides to transcend partisan politics and strengthen our democracy by protecting voting rights," he wrote on Sunday.

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