Democracy 21 Applauds Voting Rights Breakthrough In The Senate
The New, Revised Freedom To Vote Act Sets The Stage For Final Action On Essential Legislation
Statement of Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer
Democracy 21 applauds the voting rights breakthrough in the Senate, with the revised legislation, the Freedom to Vote Act, announced today.
The Freedom to Vote Act was developed by eight Democratic and Independent Senators under the outstanding leadership of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). The Act represents a compromise engineered by Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), the only Senate Democrat who previously opposed the original S. 1 voting rights legislation.
Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), who chairs the Senate Rules Committee, is the lead sponsor of the Freedom to Vote Act.
In addition to Senator Klobuchar, the other Senators who developed the revised legislation and are original cosponsors include: Senators Manchin, Jeff Merkley (D-OR), the lead sponsor of the original S. 1, Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Angus King (I-ME), Alex Padilla (D-CA), and Jon Tester (D-MT).
Senator Manchin’s work to achieve compromise legislation has set the stage for passage of this historic and essential legislation.
The Freedom to Vote Act is transformational legislation that will establish fair voting rules for federal elections and will supersede the state voter suppression laws that have been passed in 18 states this year. The U.S. Constitution explicitly provides in Article I, §4 that when federal rules for voting in federal elections conflict with state laws, the federal rules prevail.
The new Freedom to Vote Act means the votes exist in the Senate to pass the legislation and the remaining obstacle now is a Republican filibuster.
There have been countless exceptions to the filibuster rules over the years. From 1969 to 2014, for example, Congress passed 161 statutes that allowed measures to pass the Senate by a majority vote without being subject to the filibuster rules.
These measures have included fast-track trade authority, rules dealing with foreign policy and national defense, and Medicare spending cuts. Perhaps the most significant filibuster exception was to the budget reconciliation process created in 1974.
The last exception to the filibuster rules was engineered by the Senate’s “Filibuster King” Mitch McConnell (R-KY) who, as Majority Leader in 2017, created an exception to allow Supreme Court nominees to be confirmed by majority vote and not subject to the filibuster rules.
With millions of eligible citizens facing the loss of their ability to vote in federal elections and with the history of countless exemptions to the filibuster rules, Senators who support the new Freedom to Vote Act must not let the filibuster rules stand in the way of protecting the sacred right to vote and our democracy.
It’s time for the Senate to act to protect and preserve our democracy.
