Voting Rights & The Senate: It Will All Come Down To The Filibuster
Congress faces an overwhelming schedule this month.
Funding for the government runs out on September 30 and must be extended. The debt ceiling limit needs to be increased so the United States can pay the debts already incurred.
The reconciliation budget process – involving multiple committees in both the House and Senate – is moving forward full blast. The current goal is to pass the reconciliation budget and the infrastructure bill by the end of the month. Getting agreement in the House and Senate on a passable reconciliation bill is a herculean task that will require House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to work their magic as they have in the past.
Hearings in the aftermath of the Afghanistan withdrawal will start next week and hearings on the January 6 insurrection are moving forward.
In the midst of all this, the battle to save our democracy is headed for a Senate showdown.
This is a battle that must be won in order to counter an unprecedented anti-democracy movement being led by Republicans in state legislatures across the country and based on the Trump Big Lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.
George Washington, the story goes, once said, “I cannot tell a lie.” Donald Trump would have to respond, “I cannot tell the truth.” They are polar extremes – one President who helped build our democracy and one who is trying to tear it to shreds.
Two bills have now passed the House and are pending in the Senate, the For the People Act (H.R. 1 / S. 1) and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (H.R. 4).
Both bills are essential to protect millions of citizens from losing their democracy-given ability to vote in federal elections and to prevent extreme gerrymandering of congressional districts.
S. 1 will override the voter suppression laws passed by Republican-controlled legislatures in 18 states, with Texas recently enacting the worst new voter restriction laws in the country. These voter suppression laws are aimed in particular at preventing voting by Black, brown, and other minority citizens.
H.R. 4 will prevent future voter discrimination by restoring critical provisions of the Voting Rights Act struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013. H.R. 4 would again require that certain states and localities get pre-clearance by the Justice Department for any changes in voting laws they want to make. Senate hearings are expected this month on this bill.
Up first in the Senate is a revised version of the For the People Act which is expected to become public soon. The revised bill was developed by a group of Senate Democrats, including Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), the only Senate Democrat who opposed the original measure. It incorporates many of Manchin’s voting rights ideas. This bill should have the support of all 50 Democrat Senators.
This brings us to the last step – an approach to bypass the filibuster rules.
The filibuster rules have been routinely bypassed, with 161 statutes enacted in past years that allowed legislation to pass in the Senate by majority vote. Senator Manchin himself in 2011 cosponsored and voted for changing the filibuster rules.
The final battle on these vital democracy measures is expected in October.
And, it will all come down to the filibuster. Preserving our democracy must prevail.
