The best news I’ve heard in a while — Joe Manchin has blinked, a bit, on the filibuster. Politico:

Sen. Joe Manchin said Sunday he is open to altering the Senate filibuster to make it more “painful” for the minority party to wield, while reiterating his opposition to ending the procedural hurdle altogether.

“The filibuster should be painful, it really should be painful and we’ve made it more comfortable over the years,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Maybe it has to be more painful.”

Manchin (D-W.Va.) has previously supported efforts to require senators to filibuster by talking on the chamber floor in order to hold up a bill, an idea he raised on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“If you want to make it a little bit more painful, make him stand there and talk,” Manchin said. “I’m willing to look at any way we can, but I’m not willing to take away the involvement of the minority.”

Forcing Republicans to resort to an old-fashioned talking filibuster to delay votes would, first, mean that they’re not going to block everything just to block it. And when they do try to block a bill, they would have to draw a lot of attention to themselves in doing so. and if they stop talking, the bill could pass with a simple majority. The current Senate rule that requires 60 votes to allow a bill to be voted on is just too easy. The Constitution says that bills can pass with a simple majority, not a two-third majority.  If they’re going to block legislation that people want, let them work for it and stick their necks out for it.

Note this from Josh Marshall:

Key from Manchin. Filibuster reformers have been saying consistently that change will only come if it can be packaged as “saving” the filibuster by “reforming” it. And as you can see here that’s exactly where Manchin goes. pic.twitter.com/HbVUZKkQwe

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) March 7, 2021

Got that? Changing the rule would not be ending the filibuster but preserving it (wink, nudge). Josh Marshall continues, “Don’t pop any corks yet. This is going to be a process that plays out over a good bit of time. But this is about the most optimistic I’ve been yet that we’re going to see real, game-changing change on this issue.”

See also Joe Manchin opens the door to filibuster reform and How the filibuster broke the US Senate at Vox.