VOTE-REFORM FAIL
GOP blocks measure to increase access across U.S.
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans blocked a landmark election reform bill from even being considered for debate on Tuesday, dealing a major blow to efforts by congressional Democrats to provide a federal counterweight against voting restrictions being enacted by GOP lawmakers in several key states.
Due to the filibuster rule, at least 60 senators needed to join forces to open debate on the For the People Act, which would make it easier to vote across the country by requiring states to offer same-day registration and hold at least two weeks of early voting in federal elections, among a range of other provisions.
But the procedural hurdle failed in a straight party-line tally, with all 50 Democrats voting for advancing the bill and all 50 Republicans voting against it. In a rare move, Vice President Kamala Harris presided over the vote.
Ahead of the vote, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) argued Republicans lined up in opposition of the measure purely for partisan advantage and because they are still beholden to former President Donald Trump’s “big lie” that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
“There is a rot — a rot — at the center of the modern Republican Party,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “Donald Trump’s big lie has spread like a cancer and threatens to envelop one of America’s major political parties. Even worse, it has poisoned our democracy and eroded faith in our elections.”
Since President Biden’s election, Republican lawmakers in swing states like Georgia, Florida, Arizona and Texas have implemented a range of restrictions on voting that critics say are aimed at suppressing Democratic voters, especially African Americans and Latinos.
But Republicans claim the web of voting limitations are not attempts to suppress, but safeguards against voter fraud — even though no evidence has emerged to suggest that such cheating is a meaningful issue in any part of the country.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), responding to Schumer’s barbs, claimed Democrats are actually pushing the For the People Act to ensure future election victories.
“There’s no rational basis for federalizing this election, and therefore there’s no point in having a debate in the U.S. Senate about something we ought not do,” McConnell told reporters.
Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, another member of Senate GOP leadership, backed up his boss. “This bill is not about more democracy, it’s about more Democrats,” Blunt said.
The successful GOP blockade is expected to reignite debate over the filibuster, which progressive Democrats want reformed or even abolished outright.
“We should all remember that the filibuster is a rule — a rule that cannot even be found in the Constitution,” Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) said. “But voting — voting is an American right.”
But filibuster reform would require the Senate’s 50 Democrats to coalesce, and at least two of them — Sens. Joe Manchin of
West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona — have said they don’t support tinkering with the arcane procedural rule.
Nonetheless, Schumer, Biden and other Democrats believe Manchin and Sinema could be convinced to change their minds if the GOP keeps blocking consideration of the voting rights measure.
Nonetheless, Biden said after the vote that he’s not giving up, suggesting he believes Manchin and Sinema could be convinced to change their minds if the GOP keeps blocking consideration of the voting rights measure.
“I’ll have more to say on this next week. But let me be clear. This fight is far from over— far from over,” the president said in a statement. “I’ve been engaged in this work my whole career, and we are going to be ramping up our efforts to overcome again—for the people, for our very democracy.”
“These reasonable changes have moved the bill forward and to a place worthy of debate on the Senate floor,” Manchin said. “Unfortunately, my Republican colleagues refused to allow debate of this legislation despite the reasonable changes made to focus the bill on the core issues facing our democracy.”
In addition to provisions on expanding voting access, the For the People Act, which passed the House months ago, would overhaul campaign finance rules and restrict partisan gerrymandering over voting districts.
But even with Manchin’s support, Democrats have no clear path forward in light of the rigid GOP resistance and the unlikelihood of filibuster reform.