After mostly staying out of the debate over the filibuster, President Joe Biden has publicly come out in support of altering Senate rules in order to pass the Democrats’ voting rights legislation. While it is still doubtful the Democrats will succeed in subverting the filibuster, the president’s remarks portend the notion that the left will be making “voting rights” a central component of their campaign strategy leading up to the midterm elections in November.
Biden gave the speech after visiting Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. served as a co-pastor. Biden also laid a wreath on the grave of civil rights leader Coretta Scott King and his wife. His remarks come after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) issued a threat to Senate Republicans: Vote to pass Democrats’ voting legislation or he would look at revising rules related to the filibuster.
Predictably, Biden brought up the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, calling it “one of those before and after moments in American history,” and said it was an “insurrection on the citadel of our democracy.”
In even more dramatic fashion, the president said “a dagger was literally held to the throat of democracy” and that “the battle for the soul of America is not over,” and that the Jan. 6 riot should not be the “end of democracy” but the “beginning.”
Biden also said the Supreme Court “weakened the Voting Rights Act,” a contention Democrats have made ad nauseum over the past 12 months. He also invoked the Jim Crow trope by saying: “Jim Crow 2.0 is about two things: voter suppression and election subversion.”
Biden then argued for the modification of filibuster regulations:
“Today, I’m making it clear to protect our democracy, I support changing the Senate rules whichever way they need to be changed to prevent a minority of senators from blocking action on voting rights. When it comes to protecting majority rule in America, the majority should rule in the United States Senate.”
The filibuster rules are the Democrats’ primary obstacle when it comes to ramming through their voting legislation, which would result in a federal takeover of elections. To make passage of critical legislation easier, Democrats have been pushing for the elimination of filibuster rules throughout 2021.
Start at The Associated Press:
Filibuster rules require 60 votes to advance most legislation — a threshold Senate Democrats can’t meet on their own with their thin, 50-50 Senate majority. Republicans unanimously opposed the voting rights bills, although not all Democrats agree with the change to the filibuster.
In what was considered a demeaning act by the Biden administration, Stacey Abrams, a failed Georgia governornal candidate and activist for voting rights, declined to attend. Her team claimed that her absence was due to a scheduling conflict. Some speculate that Abrams might be hesitant to appear on stage alongside President Biden because of his low approval ratings.
MSNBC media activist Joe Scarborough on Tuesday pointed out that this would have been “an event custom-made for Abrams” and that “she obviously doesn’t want to be on the same stage as Joe Biden.”
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough on Stacey Abrams not attending Biden’s event in Georgia: “comment on the political standing of Joe Biden … politicians don’t show up with presidents when their approval ratings may be in the 30s in a state” pic.twitter.com/mMFJ43Lhuz
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 11, 2022
Democrats have been pushing for voting rights since the passage of election integrity laws in Republican states early last year. High-profile leftists went on the warpath, claiming, without evidence, that these new laws constitute “Jim Crow 2.0” and would prevent black Americans from casting their votes despite the fact that much of these measures would simply rescind the allowances that were made last year over concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the AP:
The voting legislation was written by the Congressional Democrats. It would bring about the largest overhaul of U.S. election in decades.
Democrats will need 60 votes in order to pass bills. Republicans, however, have told Democrats to just pound the sand. They want the filibuster eliminated. This is not likely to happen for Biden or his band of Democrats.
Sens is the reason they won’t get rid of filibuster. Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema, both Democrats from Arizona, have consistently stated that they won’t vote for its end. Although the left tried to pressurize the lawmakers into changing their positions, they chose to remain steadfast.
Democrats must get at least a few Republicans to agree with their plan to adopt voting rights legislation. But given the fact that this is merely a brazen attempt to seize authority from the states, GOP lawmakers will echo Hall & Oates when they say they “can’t go for that.” Given that this is an issue that Democrats seek to make a central topic in the upcoming midterms, this does not bode well for their chances of maintaining control of Congress.
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