It was reported by NBC that Senate Democratic leaders are determined to force a showdown over voting rights on the floor, even if it ends in failure for the cause.
The debate kicked off Tuesday, with Democrats using a loophole in the 60-vote rule to begin considering the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. But there is no such loophole to end debate and proceed to a final vote unless Democrats change the rules.
Republicans are determined to filibuster the bills, and Democrats lack the 50 votes needed to create a exception to the filibuster. Democratic Sens. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia firmly oppose weakening the 60-vote threshold, even though they say they support the two bills.
With those two senators appearing immovable, and with Republicans overwhelmingly opposed to the two bills, the measures are likely to fail. The Senate showdown is less a legislative strategy to pass the bills and more a political strategy to show voters that they fought for voting rights.
“Senate Democrats are under no illusion that we face difficult odds,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday. “But I want to be clear: When this chamber confronts a question this important — one so vital to our country, so vital to our ideals, so vital to the future of our democracy — you don’t slide it off the table and say ‘never mind.'”
Schumer added: “And if Republicans choose to continue their filibuster of voting rights legislation, we must consider — and vote on — the rule changes that are appropriate and necessary to restore the Senate and make voting rights legislation possible.”
Moments later, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., assailed Democrats, accusing them of hypocrisy on the filibuster given that many hadn’t characterized it as a Jim Crow relic while former President Donald Trump was in office.
“Just miraculously, it became a Jim Crow relic in 2021,” he said, accusing Democrats of ginning up “fake hysteria” over the right to vote.
