ThinkCivics News
An educated citizenry is a vital requisite
for our survival as a free people.
Join ThinkCivics+
  • Culture & Society
  • Economy
  • Health
  • US News
  • Faith
  • Science & Tech
  • World News
No Result
View All Result
ThinkCivics News
  • Culture & Society
  • Economy
  • Health
  • US News
  • Faith
  • Science & Tech
  • World News
Join ThinkCivics+
No Result
View All Result
ThinkCivics News
Join TC+
Home US News

Voting Rights Bill Puts Democrats on a Crash Course With the Filibuster

ThinkCivics Newswire by ThinkCivics Newswire
March 25, 2021
in US News
Reading Time: 4 mins read
0
0
Voting Rights Bill Puts Democrats on a Crash Course With the Filibuster
 

When they passed a $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief bill this month, Democrats in Congress sped past their Republican opposition, using the budgetary reconciliation process to present a case study of what happens when they don’t bend over backward for G.O.P. buy-in.

Today, as they began hearings on a major piece of voting rights legislation, Democrats were making a different calculation. The bill isn’t eligible for reconciliation and is almost certain to meet gridlock in the Senate, given the threat of a filibuster from Republicans.

Few issues, if any, divide the country along partisan lines more than voting rights. The bill being debated, the For the People Act, passed the House on party lines with no Republicans voting for it. Knowing that getting 10 Republicans to join Democrats in overriding a filibuster is virtually impossible, Senator Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, is putting Democrats on a collision course with the existential debate over the filibuster.

But at the hearing today, he relished the opportunity to drive home the divide between Democrats and Republicans on this issue. “Today, in the 21st century, there is a concerted, nationwide effort to limit the rights of citizens to vote and to truly have a voice in their own government,” Schumer said, later chanting, “Shame! Shame!” at Republican lawmakers.

There’s a poetic irony and also a perfect logic to the fact that a debate over the filibuster would come to a head over voting rights legislation. Not only because filibuster reform involves the Senate altering its own voting rules, but also because the most high-profile uses of the filibuster throughout history have often been in order to block civil rights.

Senator Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democrat, in a recent speech on the Senate floor, succinctly tied the For the People Act to the filibuster debate. “It is a contradiction to say we must protect minority rights in the Senate while refusing to protect minority rights in society,” he said.

Pressure has been growing among Democratic insiders this week for changes to the filibuster. Senators have begun broadcasting their support for ending the practice, and a report in Axios published today quoted people close to President Biden saying he was ready to roll back the maneuver, although the White House has been publicly tight-lipped on the issue.

Just as Democratic senators were strident in their calls for federal voting rights laws today, Republicans were combative in their arguments against the bill. Some expressed outrage over the legislation’s proposal to end the mandatory 3-3 partisan split on the Federal Election Commission, a move that Democrats have said was necessary to promote reform.

“This bill is designed to corrupt the election process permanently, and it is a brazen and shameless power grab by Democrats,” Senator Ted Cruz of Texas said.

Senator Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, said that states simply “are not engaging in trying to suppress voters whatsoever.”

Senator Shelley Moore Capito, Republican of West Virginia, argued that the bill was trying to fix a voting system that didn’t need fixing, a position that seemed to go against prominent Republican narratives that the 2020 election was supposedly tainted by voter fraud.

But Democrats see an opportunity to press their case for filibuster reform with the For the People Act, a sweeping bill that would establish core national voting rights standards and create independent, nonpartisan commissions to handle the congressional redistricting process.

State-level Republican lawmakers have proposed hundreds of bills this year that would tamp down voting rights, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, and the G.O.P. will control the redistricting process next year in many key swing states. Democrats in Congress are looking at this bill as an increasingly urgent bulwark against voting restrictions and gerrymandering that could perpetuate targeted disenfranchisement, tilting the balance of political power for years to come.

Of course, it’s not yet certain that Senate Democrats will even unify in support of the bill. Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who votes against his party with some regularity, is the lone Democrat who didn’t sponsor it, and he has yet to signal unequivocal support. If he does get behind it, he would have to work to roll back the filibuster as well (something that he and at least one other Democratic senator, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, haven’t yet gotten behind) in order to make that support mean anything.

Read the original article.

ThinkCivics Newswire

ThinkCivics researches, examines, and reports on issues that matter most. We deliver explanative, fearless, and insightful analysis for public consumption.

thinkcivics.com
Tags: Democratic partyFilibusters and Debate CurbsRepublican partyUnited States Politics and GovernmentVoter Registration and Requirements

Related Posts

Sussmann told CIA similar ‘client’ lie in 2017, Durham says

May 22, 2022
Elon Musk Calling for ‘Hardcore’ Legal Team Made of ‘Streetfighters’

Elon Musk Calling for ‘Hardcore’ Legal Team Made of ‘Streetfighters’

May 22, 2022

It’s Time to Boot Turkey from NATO

May 22, 2022

Biden Says 70,000 Pounds of European Baby Formula en Route to U.S.

May 22, 2022
Load More
Next Post
Virginia Becomes First Southern State to Abolish the Death Penalty

Virginia Becomes First Southern State to Abolish the Death Penalty

Senate Democrats Plan to Revive Obama-Era Climate Change Rule

Senate Democrats Plan to Revive Obama-Era Climate Change Rule

White House Weighs Executive Orders on Gun Control

White House Weighs Executive Orders on Gun Control

TODAY'S TOP STORIES

  • Dave Chappelle Returns to Stage With Joke About His Recent Attack That’s Upsetting Liberals

    Dave Chappelle Returns to Stage With Joke About His Recent Attack That’s Upsetting Liberals

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • The Chicago Mass Shooting You Didn’t Hear About This Week

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Unvaccinated People Will Be Barred From This, Starting May 31

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • It Sure Looks Like Joe Biden Is Trying to Purposely Destroy the Country

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Jen Psaki Has Nowhere to Turn After Student Journalist Catches Her in Whopper About SCOTUS Protests

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Handwritten Notes From 2017 Show FBI Agents Mislead DOJ On The Trump-Russia Investigation

by The Federalist
May 19, 2022
0
Handwritten Notes From 2017 Show FBI Agents Mislead DOJ On The Trump-Russia Investigation
National Security

Hillary Clinton’s campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann is currently on trial for lying to the FBI about his role in pushing...

Read more

Jankowicz Got The Boot, But Biden’s ‘Ministry Of Truth’ Hired Replacements Are WORST

by ThinkCivics Newswire
May 19, 2022
0
Jankowicz Got The Boot, But Biden’s ‘Ministry Of Truth’ Hired Replacements Are WORST
National Security

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) hired the co-author of the PATRIOT Act, arguably the harshest crackdown on civil liberties...

Read more

MSNBC Guests Want GOP Labeled ‘Domestic Terror Party,’ Jail Time For Having The Wrong Opinions

by The Political Insider
May 19, 2022
0
MSNBC Guests Want GOP Labeled ‘Domestic Terror Party,’ Jail Time For Having The Wrong Opinions
National Security

We all know that Democrats and the left love to operate on the premise of “never let a good crisis...

Read more

Incredible Video: George W. Bush Accidentally Condemns ‘Unjustified and Brutal Invasion of Iraq’

by The Political Insider
May 19, 2022
0
Incredible Video: George W. Bush Accidentally Condemns ‘Unjustified and Brutal Invasion of Iraq’
National Security

George W. Bush committed a Freudian slip so brutal they may have to rename the phenomenon after him. The former...

Read more
U.S. economy may outpace China’s this year for the first time in nearly 50 years
Economy

U.S. economy may outpace China’s this year for the first time in nearly 50 years

by Just the News
May 21, 2022
0

The growth of the U.S. economy is set to outpace that of China's for the first time in nearly five...

Read more
It Sure Looks Like Joe Biden Is Trying to Purposely Destroy the Country
Economy

It Sure Looks Like Joe Biden Is Trying to Purposely Destroy the Country

by RedState
May 21, 2022
0

The last several weeks in the United States have been a wild ride. Everything that could go wrong, short of...

Read more
12 Nightmarish Economic Trends That We Should Expect To See During The 2nd Half Of 2022
Economy

12 Nightmarish Economic Trends That We Should Expect To See During The 2nd Half Of 2022

by ThinkCivics Newswire
May 20, 2022
0

If you thought that the economic news was crazy during the first half of 2022, just wait until we get...

Read more
White House Isn’t Paying Attention to Americans Getting Their Retirement Plans Wiped Out
Economy

White House Isn’t Paying Attention to Americans Getting Their Retirement Plans Wiped Out

by ThinkCivics Newswire
May 18, 2022
0

The stock market took a steep nosedive Wednesday and the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted by nearly 1200 points. Americans...

Read more
Facebook Twitter RSS

Brilliantly

SAFE!

thinkcivics.com

Content & Links

Verified by Sur.ly

2022

Recent News

  • Sussmann told CIA similar ‘client’ lie in 2017, Durham says
  • Elon Musk Calling for ‘Hardcore’ Legal Team Made of ‘Streetfighters’
  • Worried an Apple AirTag Is Secretly Tracking You? Here’s What You Can Do

Category

  • Culture & Society
  • Economy
  • Editorials
  • Education
  • Elections
  • Energy
  • Environment
  • Faith
  • Health
  • Immigration
  • Military
  • National Security
  • Politics
  • Science & Tech
  • US News
  • Videos
  • World News

© 2022 ThinkCivics Media. All Rights Reserved.

  • Login
  • Sign Up
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About
  • Store
  • Contact Us
  • Join
  • Contribute

© 2022 ThinkCivics Media. All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

OR

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.