  Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) outlined changes to the Senate’s filibuster rules that he would support, but remained steadfast in his opposition to getting rid of the filibuster entirely in comments to congressional reporters on Tuesday.
Manchin’s comments come as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) reiterated his commitment to hold another vote as early as Wednesday on federal voting rights legislation supported by all 50 members of the Senate Democratic Caucus before pushing for filibuster changes if Republicans again block consideration of the legislation.
With nearly all Republicans opposed to both the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, Democrats would need to change the filibuster rules to enact both bills. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) and Manchin remain the only two Democratic senators openly opposed to eliminating the filibuster in order to pass voting rights legislation that they support.
Manchin told PBS NewsHour reporter Lisa DesJardins on Tuesday that he supports a raft of rules changes to make the Senate “work better.” These include getting rid of the filibuster to begin debate on legislation, also known as the motion to proceed, changing the threshold to end a filibuster from 60 votes to three-fifths present and requiring a talking filibuster with senators limited to two speeches each.
“I’m not for breaking the filibuster, but I am for making the place work better by changing the rules,” Manchin said.
These changes would not necessarily allow for legislation like the voter rights bills currently blocked by GOP filibusters to pass, but filibuster reform and voting rights advocates are still encouraged by Manchin’s willingness to publicly back some kind of change.
Still, Senate Democrats need Manchin’s and Sinema’s support to change the rules without Republican support, something Manchin said he still does not back at the moment.
Schumer promises that he will push for rules changes before the Jan. 17 Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday and after holding a test vote on voting rights legislation this week. Whether or not Manchin and Sinema, or other Democrats, vote for or against filibuster rules changes may ultimately be resolved in a vote on the floor of the Senate.
 A group of North Carolina voters took dramatic legal action against Rep. Madison Cawthorn’s (R-N.C.) reelection bid on Monday, arguing that the Constitution prohibits insurrectionist lawmakers from holding office. The nonprofit Free Speech For People filed a challenge with the North Carolina State Board of Elections on behalf of 11 North Carolina voters, stating that Cawthorn has violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. Section 3 says that no person may hold political office “who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress ... shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion.” The section was initially aimed at lawmakers who had plotted or battled against the U.S. government during the Civil War. As the galloping omicron variant forces businesses and schools to struggle with staffing, one of the nation’s top national security agencies is also feeling the strain. The State Department is experiencing a stunning surge in COVID-19 cases, three U.S. officials told HuffPost this week. One said the situation is internally being called “Chernobyl,” a nod to the worst nuclear disaster in history. 
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