Senate Democrats are moving forward with a likely doomed vote on voting rights legislation Wednesday evening in an effort to expand access to the ballot, while some Republican-controlled state legislatures around the country pass and consider changes to election laws that constrain voting.
The measure will likely fail to advance since all 50 Senate Republicans are unified in opposition to the legislation, and 60 votes are required for passage. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer brought the voting rights bills, which all 50 Senate Democrats support, to the Senate floor on Wednesday morning for debate through a procedural tool to bypass Republican opposition.
After Senate Democrats met Tuesday evening, Schumer announced that if Republicans continue to block voting rights legislation from advancing, he would introduce a rules change that would implement a “talking filibuster” for this specific piece of legislation alone. Under this plan, final passage would require a 51-vote threshold, rather than the usual 60, after senators used their opportunities to speak to filibuster the bill. The rules change is unlikely to pass, since Democratic Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona do not support weakening the filibuster and eliminating the 60-vote threshold.
“It is my hope that courage awakens within the heart of our Republican colleagues before the day is out but if the Senate cannot protect the right to vote, protect the cornerstone of our democracy under the existing rules, then the Senate rules must be reformed,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Wednesday morning.
Alex Wong / Getty Images
Schumer addressed Sinema’s and Manchin’s opposition to weakening the filibuster and their arguments that the filibuster is used to foster bipartisanship.
“I don’t see that evidence, evidence of that at all,” Schumer said. “But even for those who feel that the filibuster is a good thing and helps bring us together, I would ask this question: isn’t the protection of voting rights, the most fundamental wellspring of this democracy, more important? Isn’t protecting voting rights and protecting their diminution more important than a rule in the Senate?”
Manchin and Sinema have remained firm in their defense of the filibuster under intense pressure by some Democratic lawmakers and activist groups. EMILY’s List, a group that endorses women politicians who advocate for abortion rights, said that it will not endorse Sinema in future elections if she refuses to support a rules change to pass voting rights legislation.
“We want to make it clear: if Senator Sinema can not support a path forward for the passage of this legislation, we believe she undermines the foundations of our democracy, her own path to victory and also the mission of EMILY’s List, and we will be unable to endorse her moving forward,” said EMILY’s List President Laphonza Butler in a statement.
Wednesday’s vote will take place just hours after President Biden’s first press conference of the year, and only his 10th since taking office a year ago. One of Mr. Biden’s signature pieces of legislation, the social spending bill known as Build Back Better, also remains stalled in the Senate because it lacks the support of Manchin and Sinema.
Ahead of the Tuesday evening’s Democratic caucus meeting, Manchin said his Senate Democratic colleagues have changed their minds on the filibuster and he respects their decision.
“You have a right to change your mind,” Manchin said Tuesday. “I haven’t. I hope they respect that too. I’ve never changed my mind on the filibuster.”
The voting rights legislation includes a wide array of proposals to expand access to the ballot. Some of the proposals include making Election Day a national holiday, creating standards for voter ID and allowing no-excuse absentee voting around the country. The legislation would also create a baseline to allow for early voting for at least 15 days before Election Day and to establish same day voter registration.
It would also reinstate a core provision of the Voting Rights Act that required states with a history of racial discrimination in voting to get approval from the Justice Department before changing their election policies. This section of the law was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013.
A CBS News poll released Wednesday showed that 68% of Democrats believe it is “very” important to pass voting rights legislation. The poll also displayed that a majority of Democrats believe that the filibuster should end, while 65% of Republicans said that the filibuster should be kept.
Senate Republicans have alleged that the legislation amounts to a “federal takeover” of the elections process. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday morning that Schumer’s proposed rules change would “destroy” the Senate, arguing that the filibuster is a “central Senate tradition.”
“The Senate is not supposed to be a duplicate House of Representatives with fewer members and fancier desks,” McConnell added.
