D21 President Fred Wertheimer On Senate GOP Blocking Of Voting Rights Legislation & What’s Ahead
Senate Republicans Again Block Legislation To Override Unprecedented Voter Suppression Laws In The States
Senate Democrats Set Voting Rights Legislation As First Order Of Business In September; Must Bypass Republican Filibuster To Prevent Millions Of Americans From Losing Their Right To Vote
Statement of Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer
Senate Republicans blocked consideration of voting rights legislation before leaving for the August recess.
Senate Republicans again prevented Congress from overriding state laws that will create the greatest voter suppression and discrimination in this country since enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) then made clear that the first order of business when Congress returns in September will be revised voting rights legislation that incorporates proposals by Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), an opponent of S. 1 in its current form.
This has set the stage for a showdown in September to determine whether the 50 Senators expected to support the revised legislation will take steps to bypass the filibuster rules.
At stake here is whether the unprecedented voter suppression laws enacted by Republican-controlled state legislatures are overridden by new federal voting rules or whether millions of Black, brown, and other voters will lose the ability to exercise their sacred right to vote in federal elections.
At stake also is whether essential anti-corruption campaign finance reforms and measures to prevent extreme partisan gerrymandering are enacted.
This is expected to come down to decisions by Senators Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), a cosponsor of S. 1, who have so far opposed making a change in the filibuster rules for the voting rights legislation.
Changing the filibuster rules, however, has been routine.
Congress has created 161 exemptions to the filibuster rules in statutes passed over the years.
In 2017, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) engineered an exception to the filibuster rules that allowed three Trump Supreme Court nominees to be confirmed by a majority vote.
Last night an exception to the filibuster rules allowed a $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation measure to pass by majority vote. Senators Manchin and Sinema joined in using this exception to the filibuster rules by voting for the budget resolution.
Senators Manchin and Sinema have a choice to make in September.
They can play a pivotal role in protecting our democracy and representative system of government from the country’s worst voter suppression and discrimination since the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Or, they can choose to stand on the wrong side of history and join in allowing millions of Black, brown, and other voters to lose the ability to exercise their sacred right to vote.
Democracy 21 urges Senators Manchin and Sinema to stand on the right side of history.
