Episode 32767: Open Democracy Minute for Aug 9, 2021 - Manchin Amendment for the For the People Act vote likely this week

Open Democracy Minute

You're listening to the Open Democracy Minute, keeping Granite State government by and for the people. As of last Friday, Aug. 6, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has delayed the U.S. Senate's August recess to force action on the infrastructure bill. Next on the agenda before the break may be a vote on one version of the For the People Act amended by Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Manchin has indicated he may have bipartisan support for the bill, but many democracy advocates are skeptical that he has enough votes to pass the bill. Manchin's amendment slims down the bill, but does retain some of the voting rights components like automatic voter registration, ethics reform for the executive branch and keeping lobbyists from working for foreign countries, and keeps campaign finance reform features like disclosure of dark money and political advertising donors. If the Manchin amendment doesn't pass, it does NOT mean the end of the For the People Act. But it does raise the urgency of filibuster reform. Reports are circulating that a failure of the Manchin Amendment will put added pressure on Manchin, Arizona, Senator Kyrsten Sinema, and New Hampshire's own Senators, Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen to to change the filibuster to allow a simple majority for Constitutional-related bills, or to restore the talking filibuster. The Senate switchboard is 888-453-3211. As Granny D said, “Democracy is not something we HAVE, it's something we DO.” For the Open Democracy Minute, I'm Brian Beihl.