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- Republicans used the filibuster to block progress of Democrats’ major voting rights bill.
- Rep. Ocasio-Cortez criticized the rule, saying it gives a small group of senators too much power.
- She said “legislation should pass when a majority of legislators vote for it.”
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized filibuster rules after Senate Republicans blocked the a bill proposed by Democrats to expand voting rights.
“Call me radical, but I do not believe a minority of Senators should be able to block voting rights for millions of people,” she said on Twitter on Tuesday.
-Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 23, 2021
“But I guess I’m just from that far-left school of thought that legislation should pass when a majority of legislators vote for it.”
Republicans used the filibuster to block debate on the bill.
The filibuster meant that 60 votes were needed for the bill to progress, but the vote went 50-50 on party lines, meaning that Democratic Senators were unable to move forward even the support of Vice President Kamala Harris, who can cast a tie-breaking vote when the filibuster is not in play.
As Insider previously reported, the bill includes the expansion of voter rights, softens voter-ID laws, bans partisan gerrymandering in redistricting, and also includes major campaign finance reforms.
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