Sinema, Manchin slammed as Senate begins voting bill debate

By LISA MASCARO
AP Congressional Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators are returning to Washington under intense pressure to pass voting legislation in the face of stark criticism from civil rights leaders. The Senate is set to launch debate Tuesday after civil rights leaders implored them to change the rules and break a Republican-led filibuster that has stalled the voting bill. Attention is focused intently on Democrats Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who were singled out with a barrage of criticism during Martin Luther King Jr. Day events. But they have shown no signs of changing the rules on what advocates call the “Jim Crow filibuster.”