Evan Vucci/AP Photo
- Biden made a speech on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day demanding action on voting rights.
- Two voting rights bills await passage in the Senate and are top Democratic priorities.
- With the Senate filibuster in place, their passage is unlikely.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday made a renewed plea for the passage of voting rights legislation as the country celebrated the memory of civil righs leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Two voting rights bills at the heart of the Democratic agenda, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act, are up for debate in the Senate on Tuesday with a possible vote later this week. But with the legislative filibuster still intact, their passage is unlikely in the face of Republican opposition.
“The attack on our democracy is real,” Biden said, citing the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 and Republican efforts to pass new voting rules in several states after former President Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election. “It’s no longer just about who gets to vote, it’s about who gets to count the vote, and whether your vote counts at all.”
“In his time, through his courage, his conviction, and his committement, Dr. King held a mirror up to America nad forced us to answer the question, where do we stand? Whose side are we on?” Biden continued. “We’re in another moment right now where the mirror is being held up to America.”
—President Biden (@POTUS) January 17, 2022
The voting rights bills are now the Democrats’ top legislative priorities. Democrats see voting rights — and their future electoral victories in swing states — as under threat by Republicans who supported Trump in his insistence that the 2020 election was stolen from him through widespread voter fraud despite a complete lack of evidence to support this claim. Meanwhile, only one Republican Senator — Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — plans to vote for the legislation, and Trump has called it a “voting fraud bill.”
Black voters and activists, who helped propel Biden to victory in the 2020 presidential primary and played a key role in delivering the state of Georgia to Democrats in a stunning reversal, have demanded stronger action to protect voting rights.
However, with the Senate evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, it’s unlikely the legislation will pass while the Senate filibuster remains in place. Two Democrats, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, refuse to vote with their party to end the rule.
Biden continues to press for voting rights legislation regardless of intra-party opposition. “Will we stand against voter suppression, yes or no?” he said on Monday. “Will we stand against election subversion, yes or no? Will we stand up for an America where everyone is guaranteed the full protections and the full promise of this nation, yes or no? “
“It’s time for every elected official in this nation to make it clear where they stand,” Biden said.
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