Republicans’ efforts to restrict voting access ‘un-American’: Biden
PHILADELPHIA — U.S. President Joe Biden declared that preserving voting rights is an urgent national “test of our time” on Tuesday, as Texas Democrats took dramatic action to stymie Republican efforts to tighten ballot restrictions in their state.
Biden, who has proclaimed protecting ballot access the central cause of his presidency, has faced sharp criticism from allies for not doing more, though political headwinds and stubborn Senate math have greatly limited his ability to act. Despite his ringing words on Tuesday, he avoided any mention of trying to alter the Senate filibuster rule that stands in the path of federal legislation.
Speaking at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Biden called the efforts to curtail voting accessibility “unAmerican” and “un-democratic” and launched a broadside against his predecessor, Donald Trump, who baselessly alleged misconduct in the 2020 election after his defeat. Biden called passage of congressional proposals to override new state voting restrictions and to restore parts of the Voting Rights Act that were curbed in recent years by the Supreme Court “a national imperative.”
Yet, instead of raising the possibility of fighting the filibuster, he appeared to tacitly acknowledge the fading hopes for the bills, saying he would launch a nationwide campaign to arm voters with information on rules changes and restrictions ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.
“We have to prepare now,” the president said.
Biden’s remarks came a day after Texas Democrats decamped for Washington in an effort to deny their GOPcontrolled legislature the necessary quorum to pass a bill placing new restrictions on voting in the state.
The lawmakers, who arrived in the U.S. capital Monday night, said they were prepared to stay in Washington — out of the reach of Texas law enforcement — until a special legislative session concludes early next month. It marks a dramatic new showdown over voting in America.
Standing near the steps of the U.S. Capitol for a news conference ahead of a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the Democrats promised to “stay out and kill this bill.”
However, state Rep. Chris Turner, the leader of the Texas legislature’s House Democrats, predicted that their efforts would ultimately be futile unless congressional Democrats take bolder action to overcome a Senate Republican blockade of the sweeping federal voting bill. The legislation, known as the For the People Act, would create U.S. standards for voting that could roll back some of the restrictions that have been approved or are advancing in Republican-led states, including Texas.
“We can’t hold this tide back forever. We’re buying some time. We need Congress and all of our federal leaders to use that time wisely,” Turner said.
Several states have enacted new voting restrictions, and others are debating them, as the GOP has seized on Trump’s false claim of massive voter fraud in the 2020 election as a rationale for curtailing ballot access.
Some GOP-led states have worked to roll back the vote-bymail expansion that was put in place in the past presidential election due to COVID-19 fears. Others have tried to strengthen voter identification requirements
and curtail hours and locations for early voting and ballot drop-offs.
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said he would keep calling special sessions through next year if necessary to pass his state’s legislation, and raised the possibility of Democrats facing arrest upon returning home.
Biden’s speech was intended as the opening salvo of a public pressure campaign,
Democrats on Capitol Hill have already tried to respond with a sweeping federal voting and elections bill that Senate Republicans have united to block. Most Republicans have similarly dismissed a separate bill, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore sections of the Voting Rights Act that the Supreme Court has weakened.
Those roadblocks have increased focus on Senate filibuster rules, which, if left in place, would seem to provide an insurmountable roadblock. Republicans have been unanimous in opposition to eliminating the filibuster.
Many Democrats have expressed frustration with the lack of a greater White House push to change the filibuster, with civil rights activists stressing that Biden was elected with broad support from Black people whose votes are often put at risk by voting restrictions.