Was Biden’s voting speech too little, too late?
President Joe Biden’s speech Tuesday on voting rights legislation — stuck in the U.S. Senate — was better late than never.
After months of avoiding the issue, the former senator called on Congress to pass voting rights legislation and publicly supported changes to the Senate’s filibuster rules to do it.
One report described Biden’s attack as “newfound fire.”
It’s questionable whether that fire will catch, or whether it will have any impact on the Senate’s stubborn hold on any piece of legislation.
For the U.S. voter, the consequences are high. For U.S. democracy, failure to safeguard voting rights will come at great cost.
For Biden and other Democrats, the fallout of continued assaults on voting rights will come soon enough in the midterm elections and then again in the 2024 presidential election.
No matter how slow the president was to back filibuster reform, it and voting rights remain critical one year out from a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. The insurrection was spurred by unfounded claims of voter fraud that led to a barrage of restrictive new voting laws.
While other important issues such as the coronavirus pandemic, the economy and Biden’s legislative priorities will impact elections, none may sting as much as continued restrictions on voting rights.
Several voting rights advocates have been so disappointed with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ inaction on voting protections, they boycotted their Atlanta appearances this week to show how disillusioned they’ve become.
For some, it was especially cutting that the White House chose Georgia, the home of Martin Luther King Jr. and so many other champions of the civil rights movement, to deliver what they called “a photo op.”
Within a week or two, Biden’s influence to press for filibuster reform and passage of the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act will be tested.
The latter would restore federal authority to “preclear” states that make changes to voting laws, especially in states like Texas that have a history of discriminating against Black and Latino voters.
That federal oversight has been limited by recent Supreme Court rulings and requires legislative action.
The Freedom to Vote bill would make Election Day a holiday and allow everyone the right to vote by mail. The Brennan Center for Justice says it will “create a baseline national standard for voting access, preempting many of the most onerous restrictions that have been passed or proposed recently in the states and expanding opportunities for all Americans to cast their ballots.”
Without reform of the filibuster rules, neither bill will get an airing. Biden zeroed in on that problem Tuesday.
The filibuster has prevented debate on these bills and stalled voting on them. In the meantime, state legislatures dismantled generations of civil rights advancements and targeted the work of local and state officials who tried to make voting easier during the pandemic.
One message has been made clear: They really don’t want all of us to vote.
Like extremists, insurrectionists and other proponents of the Big Lie that former President Donald Trump won reelection, state legislators have used unsubstantiated claims of election and voter fraud to press for voting limits.
On Tuesday, the president finally uttered support for filibuster reform that would “carve out” an exemption for voting rights legislation and allow a simple majority to pass a bill.
It would change the filibuster’s 60-vote rule to a simple 50-50 majority, though that may be illusive.
Republicans have opposed such reform for the same reasons they oppose voting rights. They want to win.
At all costs.
Even when democracy is at stake.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., promises to force the issue by Monday, a national holiday honoring the legacy of King.
If Democrats don’t prevail, it will be a major blow to 21st century voting rights.
“Will we choose democracy over autocracy? Light over shadows? Justice over injustice?” Biden said to a Georgia crowd. “I know where I stand.”
However long it took for him to get there, he did.
The president ultimately overcame his own instincts and is now going against an institutional body to which he once belonged.
One that once valued bipartisanship and honest debate.
It’s a shadow of its former self.
Where will the Senate stand? That’s the real question.