Passing a sweeping election reform bill required two things from Democratic Senate leadership, says former Obama administration staffer Dan Pfeiffer: compromising with centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) on some of the details and then convincing Manchin and a few other Democrats, like Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), to agree to nuke the filibuster since there was no other way around Republican opposition. "It's now abundantly clear there was never a plan to do either," Pfeiffer wrote in The Message Box on Wednesday, a day after the GOP blocked a debate on the issue.
Pfeiffer tempered his criticism by noting that Manchin "was incredibly vague about the reasons for his opposition to the bill for a very long time," but "in the end, he suggested a reasonable, if unsatisfying, compromise that received the support of Stacey Abrams and [former President] Barack Obama." But, he continued, Democrats couldn't "coalesce around it and offer a united front." Instead, they spent the night before Tuesday's vote "debating strategy and discussing breaking the bill into pieces ... It is truly impossible to imagine why these problems were not anticipated and addressed long before the vote was scheduled." Read more at The Message Box.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Spines and the rise of AI book publishersUnder The Radar New publishing venture has been roundly condemned by industry figures
-
A Man on the Inside: Netflix comedy leaves you with a 'warm fuzzy feeling'The Week Recommends Charming series has a 'tenderness' that will 'sneak up' on you
-
Bread & Roses: an 'extraordinarily courageous' documentaryThe Week Recommends Sahra Mani's 'powerful' film examines the lives of three Afghan women under the Taliban
-
Israel and Hezbollah agree to ceasefireSpeed Read Both sides accepted an agreement brokered by the United States and France
-
What will Trump do on Day 1?Today's Big Question Presidents often promise immediate action, but rarely deliver
-
Khan supporters converge on IslamabadSpeed Read Protesters clashing with Pakistani authorities are demanding the release of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan
-
Prosecutor drops federal cases against TrumpSpeed Read Special counsel Jack Smith requested to drop the charges against President-elect Donald Trump for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election
-
Trump completes Cabinet selectionsSpeed Read The president-elect's latest picks include Scott Bessent and Lori Chavez-DeRemer
-
Global court issues arrest warrant for NetanyahuSpeed Read The International Criminal Court issued warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who stand accused of war crimes
-
Gaetz bows out, Trump pivots to Pam BondiSpeed Read Gaetz withdrew from attorney generation consideration, making way for longtime Trump loyalist Pam Bondi
-
GOP's Mace seeks federal anti-trans bathroom banSpeed Read Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina has introduced legislation to ban transgender people from using federal facilities
