Clyburn knocks Manchin for arguing voting rights vote must be bipartisan

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) lambasted Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Sunday for saying a vote on changing voting rights laws must be bipartisan.

Last week, Manchin delivered a blow to Democratic hopes of advancing voting rights legislation, telling CNN that any rule changes made to advance voting rights bills should be made on a bipartisan basis.

Appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” Clyburn told Fox News anchor Bret Baier that’s Manchin’s suggestion of requiring bipartisan support for voting rights caused him “pain.”

“I am, as you know, a Black person, descended of people who were given the vote by the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution. The 15th Amendment was not a bipartisan vote. It was a single-party vote that gave Black people the right to vote,” Clyburn told Baier.

“Manchin and others need to stop saying that because that gives me great pain for somebody to imply that the 15th Amendment of the United States Constitution is not legitimate because it did not have bipartisan buy-in,” he added.

With the Build Back Better Act stalled in the Senate, the White House has recently shifted its focus to voting rights legislation. President Biden and Vice President Harris are expected to travel to Georgia later this week to promote the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act.

Last week, Manchin said on CNN that it was his “absolute preference” for Senate rules to be changed with a bipartisan vote, having previously expressed his opposition to eliminating the filibuster along party lines.

“I’ve always been for rules being done the way we’ve always done, two-thirds of the members voting. Any way you can do a rules change to where everyone’s involved, that’s a rule that usually will stay. That’s what we should be pursuing,” he said.

–Updated on Jan. 10 at 5:44 a.m.