Democrats renew push on elections bill that Republicans vow to block

WASHINGTON — Democrats are renewing their push to enact their marquee voting bill, pledging to make it the first order of business when the Senate returns in the fall even though they don’t have a clear strategy for overcoming steadfast Republican opposition.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced early Wednesday his plan for floor action in September on the bill, known as the For the People Act, which Democrats have tried to pass for months. The measure, blocked by Republicans from debate in June, would affect virtually every aspect of the electoral process, curbing the influence of big money in politics, limiting the partisan considerations in the drawing of congressional districts and expanding options for voting.

Democrats acknowledge that their latest effort is doomed to fail — and that’s the point. They are looking to show that Republicans will not waver in their opposition to voting and election legislation, which Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has called “a solution looking for a problem.”

That could help make a case to moderate Democrats that there is little chance of making headway on this key issue for the party unless changes are made to Senate rules that require 60 votes to overcome a filibuster.

“Republicans have formed a total wall of opposition against progress on voting rights,” Schumer said just after 4:30 a.m. “That’s what we have come to: total Republican intransigence.”

His remarks came after a marathon voting session that paved the way for Democrats’ big-ticket spending goals before the Senate adjourned for its August recess.

“After ramming through this reckless taxing and spending spree, here in the dead of night, they also want to start tearing up the ground rules of our democracy,” McConnell said, “writing new ones, of course, on a purely partisan basis.”

Democratic leaders have said the voting legislation would serve as a powerful counterbalance to a wave of new restrictive voting laws approved in Republican-controlled states after the 2020 election. But the effort stalled in the Senate months ago.

Liberal activists have advocated for the elimination of the filibuster, though a handful of moderate Democrats, including Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, have rejected such an approach, denying Democrats the votes needed to make the change.