D21 Statement On Sen. Majority Leader Schumer Setting The Stage To Bring Voting Rights To Senate Floor
Working with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Leader Schumer devised a plan that will send the voting rights bills from the House to the Senate and then directly to the Senate floor by a majority vote for debate and consideration.This is all being done under existing Senate rules and without any change in the existing Senate filibuster rules.
Democracy 21 congratulates Majority Leader Schumer for his skillful leadership in getting past the multiple obstructionist filibusters led by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) that have blocked even debating the legislation that would protect the cornerstone of our democracy – the right to vote.
The Senate will now be able to have a full debate on the merits of the voting rights bills. Senators will be able to debate whether to override the unprecedented wave of state voter suppression laws and election sabotage laws enacted last year.
And, when the time comes for deciding whether to modify the Senate rules to allow the bills to pass by a majority vote, each Senator will have to make a profound choice of historical significance.
Each Senator will have to decide whether to vote to preserve our democracy by passing legislation that will protect the right to vote and prevent partisan sabotage of our elections, or to vote to protect state voter suppression and election sabotage laws that will deprive potentially millions of eligible citizens of their vote.
The vote of each Senator will determine whether they end up on the right or wrong side of history.
