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Voting. The Point Of View of the voter you dont do anything that you need, you dont need it rancorous. As the hard part of it is how is it gets tabulated. The candidates, the next choice, moves up, recalculated the counting the vote part of it is hard to explain. When you do as a voter is not that hard. But i bet that kornacki can explain all of that. It is exactly its the counting the vote spot in the script or i just gave up. And you can watch that on tv later this evening. Youll see the moment where rank choice, they get to choose their top and here is steve, it is going to go just like that. [laughs] now he knows to be ready in the middle of your sentence. Very good. Yeah, thank you rachel. Thank you. What we saw on the United States senate today was a show performed for two senators. Majority leader chuck schumer, wrote the Voting Rights bill before the and the senate just to show Democratic Senators joe manchin and kirsten cinema that the bipartisanship is hopeless in the United States senate on Voting Rights and so much more. Joe manchin got an agreement with checked schumer, but democrats would adopt the compromised version of the bill and still, joe manchin could not get a single republican to go along with that. So republicans won today by preventing the bill from reaching the necessary 60 vote threshold to proceed. Senator manchin released this Statement Today saying quote, unfortunately, my republican colleagues refused to allow debated the legislation despite the reasonable changes made to focus the bill on the core issues facing our democracy. As of said before, the right to vote is as fundamental to our american democracy and protecting the rights should not be about party politics. I remain committed to finding a bipartisan pathway forward because the future of our democracy is worth it. After the vote, reporters asked joe manchin once again about the possibility of him supporting reform of the senate s socalled filibuster rule. Those guys, listen, i think you all know where i stand on the filibuster. I think you all know where i stand on the filibuster. Well, no, Senator Manchin, we do not. In one of joe manchins first acts as a United States senator he actually voted to eliminate what we saw today on january 27th, 2011, senator joe manchin voted in favor of a resolution which he cosponsored, which he proudly then said in a Press Release would quote, have eliminated the filibuster on motions to proceed to a debate on this substance of the bill. The vote was 44 in favor and 51 opposed. Joe manchin was one of the minority of senators ten years ago who was in favor of completely eliminating the 60 vote threshold on motions to proceed to debate which is what the vote was about today. The vote was not about the bill today, it was just devote about, can we debate the bill . When joe manchin cast that vote ten years ago, against the Current Senate rule, he explained his vote in a Press Release saying, West Virginians deserve a government that works for them, and they are understandably frustrated with the way things get done, or dont, in washington. And at the end of his first year in the United States senate on december 13th 2011, senator joe manchin cosponsored and other bill. To make another change in the senate rules of the 60 vote threshold. Senator manchin said that that rule, that will change with quote, fix the filibuster, if senators want to hold action on a bill, they must take to the floor and hold it through sustained it debates, and Senator Manchin repeated his objective quote, to end filibusters on motions to proceed to debate. Ten years ago. Joe manchin could see with a clear rise of a new senator just how broken the senate rules were and how they were being exploited, and joe manchin recently said, similar things in a private meeting comments that were leaked to the press and indicated that in fact joe manchin is open to changing the 60 vote threshold rules. Joe manchin was right ten years ago, he was right ten years ago when he was the leader, the leader of a movement to change the senate rules joe manchin was right that we should never, ever, ever allowed filibusters on the motion to proceed to have a debate. But now now they are almost every single democratic senator agrees with joe manchin on that. Joe manchin may not agree with joe manchin about that. Because ten years is such a long time in the United States senate now. Ten years ago was a long time ago, so long ago that joe manchin might before getting wet he supported himself ten years ago. What he said himself ten years ago about what happens today. He predicted this ten years ago. That the senate would be dysfunctional if you allowed a votes like this on a simply the motion to proceed to debate. Ten years ago was a long time ago. Ten years ago, donald trump was delayed deif tv clown, and a Con Man Running Frauds out of trump university. And Mitch Mcconnell ten years ago was completely in favor of the Voting Rights act. The last time the Voting Rights act was reauthorized, it passed the senate 98 to 0 with Mitch Mcconnell voting to reauthorize the Voting Rights act for 25 years. And then, the republican appointees on the United States Supreme Court got to it and they struck down key provisions of the Voting Rights act which Mitch Mcconnell had supported. Senator kirsten cinema in her first term as a senator actually demonstrated an oped piece in the Washington Post about the 60 vote threshold that she actually owes next to nothing about the history of that senate rule, and how it has been used and abused. If your staff wrote the oped piece for her, they should be fired. Because it is full of falsehoods, outright falsehoods. And an imaginary world in which bills passed by only 51 votes in the senate will obviously be repealed when the senate power shifts even though she could not give a single example of that happening. Obamacare, passed with 51 votes. And eventually reveler republicans tried to repeal it with 51 votes, and they failed. Senator sinemas oped piece said that medic aid could be changed drastically by republicans if we got rid of the protective 60 vote threshold that protects medicaid and medicare so. Well she obviously has no idea that there is nothing stopping republicans from repealing the very existence of medicaid and medicare, and they could do that with only 51 votes in a Reconciliation Bill anytime they wanted to come up with those 51 votes. Senator cinema might be much smarter than her Public Comments on this issue, but the oped piece published in her name and possibly written by her staff is the single most historically and procedurally ignorant entry on the senate Rules Discussions so far. And when asked about it by nbcs garrett hague, today on a day when republicans used the senate rules to refuse to allow just a debate of Voting Rights, Senator Sinema was speechless. Literally speechless. And speechless in the worst possible way. She actually laughed about it. Senator would you say about democrats who are disappointed by your option to get rid of the filibuster. But you could probably change your mind . [laughs] the democrats fighting for Voting Rights on the senate floor were fighting against a republican hypocrisy, perfectly framed by georgias democratic senator Raphael Warnock occur. Surely, some of my republican friends believe at the very least that in this chamber we should be able to debate about Voting Rights, after all, Voting Rights are preservative of all other rights, and what could be more hypocritical and cynical then invoking Minority Rights in the senate as a pretext for preventing debate about how to preserve Minority Rights in this society . Tonight, President Biden issued a statement saying, the creed we shall overcome is a long time mainstay of the Civil Rights Movement. By coming together, democrats took the next step forward in his continual struggle not just on capitol hill, but across the country and a step forward to honor all of those who came before us, people of all races and ages, who sacrificed indict to protect this sacred right. Well have more to say on this next week. But let me be clear. This fight is far from over far from over. Ive been engaged in this work my whole career, and we are going to be ramping up our efforts to overcome again for old the people, for our very democracy. Joining us now is jeff merkley of oregon. The very much for joining us senator merkley, i really appreciate it. Pleasure to be with you, lawrence. You have become the senates leading expert on this so called the filibuster rule. Its really the 60 vote threshold rule which is technically a different thing for the filibuster. And have you made progress to the points and presenting the case against it to your democratic colleagues that we are down . Would you say we are down to the point of Senator Sinema and Senator Manchin being the only ones left in coming to this agreement . Well, when we presented this way. Theres been the Social Contract in the senate that the majority does not rule atop the minority. The house, from many years, theyve listened to each other and i hear everyone out before we get the vote. That was so successful that in 1805 when the rules were written they got rid of a motion to close debate or to call in question but he was never needed because of this cursory need to listen to each other. So when my colleagues talked about the importance of bipartisanship, and their goal of sustaining the filibuster, with the referring to is this Social Contract that you dont run over the top minority you have, a full chance to participate, these pieces should be heard and laid out. But there is another half of that contract which is ultimately minority Cannot Paralyzed the senate. It cannot turn it into and that is a half that Mitch Mcconnell has destroyed in the first six years that it was in the senate, harry reid was Majority Leader, he suffered through 400, we all suffered through more than 400, you can call them filibusters but essentially, obstruction of a senate to be able to go forward, and each obstruction requires a whole week is destroyed. 400 hours dont exist in a sixyear period. It was really like walking knee deep in mud so we have to come together as democrats. And reach out to republicans with the foundation that joe manchin has laid out and some of the adjustments that were talking about over the weekend. And say, okay, you see the text now he has a completely restarted. Maybe as tonights text. But hell go through it, and another opportunity, come and join us. This should be as Senator Sinema and Senator Manchin say, this should be bipartisan. These are fundamental values. This is the right of every american to vote. This is stopping billionaires from election money. This is stopping gerrymandering that corrupts equal representation in the house of representatives. This is corruption that it means that Public Servants are not serving the public. So republicans across the country embrace these ideals. They supported overwhelmingly. Three and one. So, its only in the senate and house where we have republican saying, hey, we want to bail on these fundamental american protections and values and really the foundation of our republic. So it has to happen hours will reach out and hopefully theyll join us. Certainly, manchin has had a lot of good ideas on the table for those core principles. And then, if they reject that which we anticipate that they will, then were gonna have to be 50 democrats to come together to say that we have a responsibility to save our nation, to save our constitution, and we have to figure out how to completely the other have the Social Contract. We go over, talk to republicans yes well be able to debate. But in the end, the cant paralyzed the senate, with our fundamental values that the nation has. Senator, the question today is, did todays show work for joe manchin and for Senator Cinema . You saw Senator Cinema actually laughing about this. Today im not sure anything is going to work with her. By the way, i have not been a credit of sinema in any way until i read her oped piece which is the single most ignorant thing about the senate ive ever seen a senator rights and had their name on. But ill do the democrats believe that the show today, to show joe manchin and show Senator Cinema that there is no republican support, did it work . I think the stronger point today was to show that 50 democrats were ready when to pursue the defense of Voting Rights and fundamental principles of democracy in america. Republicans corrupted by fowler were not ready to do so. Well give them another lets note that in her essay, Senator Sinema said, we need to have senators come together, debate the filibuster, share their concerns and their perspectives i take that as a show good faith. That she like others are ready to come together and have this debate, share our knowledge of history, our knowledge of the senate, our understanding of our responsibilities, and i think together, i think constantly about this, how republicans wont join us, 50 senators are going to find a path. It is too important to fail. Senator jeff merkley, i hope youre, right thank you very much for joining us tonight. I hope so [laughs] thank you. Joining us now is democratic senator alex california. He previously served as the Secretary Of State of california. Senator padilla, in your role as Secretary Of State of course you are closer to the Voting Process than most senators have ever been. What where how does the senate needs to go on this . Lets be honest about this, this was a show for two democrats, it was a show for joe manchin to prove to him with the republicans would do. It was a show for Senator Cinema to prove to her what is really happening here. Were gonna have another show, apparently all the joe lewis window its bill, where republicans will also block that. And apparently, sometime after that, senator merkley says that all 50 democrats will get together and really try to convince these two to come along to change the rules. Well, lawrence, good to be back with you. First of, all lets talk about what happened today. It was a disappointing, yes . Was it shocking, no . And its certainly not over. What we saw today is the American People seeing one party stand up for fundamental Voting Rights for all americans, and one is scared of a debate. What are they scared of . And the reason i say its no shock to me is that look at how they just started with a deadly insurrection of january 6th just a few weeks ago by not supporting an independent Bipartisan Commission to get through the root cause of that. Republicans clearly walked away from the notion of a peaceful transition of power, and now theyre walking away from a fundamental right to vote. So, yes, our democracy is on the line. So, they democracy on the line, when you hear the rhetoric from democrats, this will not stand. All of that top when it all comes down to this rule, and now they know that its about the rules, not going to the policy, its about the rule. We know about at least two democrats standing in the way of changing the senate rule and reducing that 60 vote threshold down to a majority vote threshold. If that doesnt happen, does that mean that democrats will then just, okay, give up . The words did not mean anything. We tried. They would change the rule. No. Failure is not an option here. Were gonna have to keep pressing, and maybe, just maybe we can move more of my colleagues on the question of the filibuster. Today we eliminated it, but at least creating a carved out reception for saving our democracy. Look, i have to remain hopeful. Number one, we are having this conversation a week ago, my colleague, Senator Manchin, was not even on this bill list. But we rolled up our sleeves, worked on it, and we got him to a yes, got him to yes on this measure, maybe there is room for movement on the filibuster. The other thing that i have been reminded of is that, giving honor to those who marched, who fought and died during the Civil Rights Movement for the civil rights act, for the Voting Rights act, it didnt happen in one attempt. But they kept adamant until t