Washington
CNN
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Vice President Kamala Harris’s promise to undermine the Senate filibuster rule to pass legislation enshrining abortion rights cost her the support of a leading Senate moderate: Joe Manchin.

The independent candidate from West Virginia, one of the Senate’s staunchest advocates of effective delaying tactics, told CNN on Tuesday that he would not support her candidacy now – despite having indicated earlier this month that he was prepared to do so.

“Shame on her,” Manchin, who is retiring at the end of the year, said at the Capitol. “She knows the filibuster tactic is the holy grail of democracy. It’s the only thing that gets us talking to each other and working together. If she gets rid of that, this would be a House of Representatives on steroids.”

After Harris vowed to eliminate the filibuster tactic on the issue, Manchin announced he would not support her in the presidential election.

“That’s not going to happen,” he said. “I think it can basically destroy our country, and my country is more important to me than any one person or any one person’s ideology. … I think that’s the most terrible thing.”

Manchin, a former Democrat who registered as an independent earlier this year, said he still had not spoken to Harris despite his attempts.

When asked about Harris’ previous support for abolishing the filibuster, Manchin said, “Well, she said she also supported a ban on fracking, and she changed that. I was hoping she would change that.”

Manchin’s comments follow Harris’ statement to Wisconsin Public Radio this week: “We should abolish the filibuster tactic for Roe.”

This would lower the hurdle for passing laws protecting abortion rights from 60 votes to a simple majority of 51 votes.

Supporters of the filibuster say keeping the tool in place forces consensus in the body, unlike in the House, where legislation can be rammed through with a majority vote. But critics say the tactic has been abused to prevent the Senate from deciding on legislation supported by large segments of the American public.

John Thune, the Republican whip in the Senate, attacked Harris for her filibuster comments and announced that he would continue this delaying tactic if he is elected majority leader.

Following the resignation of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Thune is one of three Republican senators running for his position at the head of the Senate Republican caucus.

“I think they are willing to change the filibuster on a whole range of issues,” Thune said of the Democrats. “That’s the problem,” he added. They have a list of bills that they “want to pass with 51 votes in the Senate, which undermines not only the Senate, but the country whose job it is to protect minority rights. Once they do that there, they will do it on everything.”

When asked by CNN whether he would change the filibuster tactic on any issue as majority leader, Thune said, “No.”

Senator Bob Casey, an at-risk Democrat from Pennsylvania, told CNN on Tuesday that he supports Harris’ push to pass abortion legislation.

“I think it makes sense to change the rule,” Casey said, adding that he believes Democrats should eliminate the requirement to address a whole range of policy issues that are important to them.

“Well, I’m just saying what I believe. I’ve long believed that the 60-vote rule has been an obstacle to progress on a whole range of fronts, including voting rights, which we’ve been trying to pass in 2022,” he continued. “And in the process of passing the bill, we’ve been trying to change the rule. So that we can pass voting rights. I think the same goes for women’s rights, workers’ rights, common sense gun safety measures to reduce gun violence. So on a whole range of fronts.”

This story has been updated with further developments.