Above: Rep Joyce Beatty, the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, was arrested on July 15 at the Hart Senate Office Building while protesting in favor of voting rights legislation.
Update to Senate Democrats Drafting A Revised Voting Rights Bill Under Intensifying Public Pressure.
The Huffington Post reports, Texas Lawmakers Sound The Alarm: Senate Dems Lack Urgency On Voting Rights:
Texas Democrats who left the state to prevent Republicans from passing new voting restrictions continued a public campaign in Washington, D.C., this week to convince federal lawmakers to pass sweeping voting rights legislation. And they have a stark warning: National Democrats are fiddling while voters’ rights are in crisis.
“I honestly don’t believe that they’re on the same timeline as we are,” Texas state Rep. Ron Reynolds (D), the vice chair of the state Legislature’s Black Caucus, told HuffPost on Wednesday.
“For us it’s do or die, because Gov. Abbott is going to call another special session as early as Aug. 9,” Reynolds said. “We hope the Senate realizes that we’re on borrowed time, so we really need federal intervention.”
The Declaration for American Democracy coalition and 22 member organizations on Tuesday issued statements calling on the U.S. Senate to delay the August recess to pass the For the People Act—sweeping voting rights legislation the House approved months ago.
Good luck with that. We need all 50 senators present to vote, and our prima donna diva senator Kyrsten Sinema has more important things to do than to save American democracy from rising GQP fascism – she has vacation plans, dammit! Politico reports:
CAN’T STOP, WON’T STOP SINEMA’S SUMMER — Sinema is not letting the Bipartisan Infrastructure bill or the reconciliation bill [or voting rights] get in the way of her summer plans.
When CHUCK SCHUMER announced earlier this month that he might keep the Senate in session into August — delaying a previously scheduled recess in order to shepherd the two gigantic bills through the chamber — Sinema told the majority leader that she was not sticking around to vote, multiple Senate sources tell Playbook.
She had prior vacation plans, she said, and wasn’t about to let the infrastructure or reconciliation bills get in the way.
Or voting rights. Pshaw! If it means reforming the senate filibuster rule – it does – then Sinema says “oh well, too bad for you.” “I’m on vacation.”
HuffPost continues:
“There’s so many Black and brown people who will be disenfranchised if we don’t get this passed,” Reynolds said.
Congressional Democrats echoed the Texans’ need for federal legislation during a Thursday-morning House Oversight Committee hearing that featured testimony from three of the Texas lawmakers. But the For the People Act has already passed the House. It is languishing in the Senate, where Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) opposes the bill as written and unified Republican opposition means it can’t overcome the 60-vote filibuster even if Manchin comes around.
Manchin has expressed qualms with portions of the bill, which includes a major overhaul of campaign finance laws and election reforms [because he is bought and paid for by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the largest source of “dark money” in our politics]. He and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) remain opposed to filibuster reform that would allow Democrats to pass the legislation with a simple majority if and when all 50 members of their caucus are on board.
Most of the Democratic haggling over the legislation is happening behind closed doors, and there are some signs of progress. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said on a press call Thursday that Manchin and other lawmakers are “very close” to reaching an agreement on legislation that meets his demands.
The Arizona Mirror adds, Klobuchar: Senate Dems ‘very close’ to a deal on revised voting rights bill:
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Thursday that lawmakers attempting to negotiate a compromise elections overhaul bill are “very close to an agreement” on legislation, as Democrats struggle to respond to restrictive voting laws passed in Republican-led states.
Klobuchar, the chairwoman of the Senate Rules & Administration Committee, has been meeting with other Senate Democrats about revisions in the sweeping “For the People Act,” or S. 1, including West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin III. Manchin last month wrote a memo including his policy demands for the legislation.
Klobuchar during a virtual panel Thursday with state lawmakers said that she met this week with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, (D-N.Y.), along with Manchin and Sen. Raphael Warnock, (D-Ga.), to discuss crafting a bill to protect and expand voting rights, as well as require states to use independent commissions for redistricting.
“We’re very close to an agreement on that bill,” Klobuchar said. “We cannot let this moment pass, there are people trying to take away people’s right to vote. We can’t let that happen.”
The New York Times reports today, Biden is to meet with top Democrats on voting rights as senators ready a scaled-back proposal. (scaled back to appease the U.S. Chamber’s toady, Joe Manchin).
President Biden and the top Democrats in Congress are expected to meet at the White House on Friday to discuss their party’s faltering efforts to pass major voting rights legislation, according to two congressional aides familiar with the plans.
Mr. Biden’s meeting with Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Senator Chuck Schumer of New York comes at a crucial moment, as activists are pushing the president to use his power and Democrats’ control of Congress to protect voting rights while they have the chance. Republican-led states have enacted at least 30 new laws containing a host of new restrictions on voting, and G.O.P. senators have blocked consideration of a Democratic bill that would impose sweeping new federal mandates aimed at overriding them.
Party leaders do not have many options to break through the gridlock. Democrats’ hopes of changing Senate filibuster rules to bypass Republicans have flagged as a few holdouts within the party continue to oppose such a move. And their window for legislative action is narrow.
Democrats are close to finalizing a scaled-back bill that activists hope could be a battering ram in the fight over the filibuster. The party is also readying legislation to reinforce the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and lawmakers have discussed tucking voting provisions into the $3.5 trillion budget plan advancing in the Senate, which they can push through unilaterally over the opposition of Republicans. But the G.O.P. is largely opposed to all three.
Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota, confirmed on Thursday that a small group of Democratic senators had been meeting to hash out a revised bill that could be released in the coming days. Among them is Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, a moderate who balked at some of the more expansive proposals in the For the People Act and has been a determined holdout on keeping the filibuster intact.
“This isn’t one of these ‘Oh, maybe we’ll get it done,’” Ms. Klobuchar said on Thursday during a call hosted by SiX Action, a progressive group, saying the emerging measure would have provisions on gerrymandering, voting by mail and automatic voter registration. “We are very close to getting an agreement on that bill.”
There is no indication that an accord among a small group of Democrats would draw any more Republican backing than previous proposals have. But activists and progressives want to see the revised measure come up for a vote before the Senate leaves Washington for its August recess, anticipating that it would fail and intensify pressure to dismantle the filibuster.
Mr. Schumer has yet to commit to a timeline, and it is unclear if he would want a full-fledged filibuster fight playing out just as he and Mr. Biden are trying to maneuver a bipartisan infrastructure bill through the Senate.
The revised elections legislation is built around a rough framework provided by Mr. Manchin earlier this year. It is expected to mandate that states provide 15 days of early, in-person voting, including at least two Sundays; a national expansion of mail-in voting; an end to partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts; a national voter identification requirement; and campaign finance provisions that would require super PACs to disclose the identities of their big donors.
The bill’s authors also plan to include language intended to undercut state laws in places like Georgia that they believe would allow Republican elected officials to subvert the results of an election to favor their candidates. Federal lawmakers specifically want to make it harder for their state counterparts to remove local election officials and harder for partisan poll watchers to intimidate voters and election workers. They also want to make the process of challenging any individual’s ability to register to vote more difficult.
HuffPost continues:
By the time Senate Democrats return their full attention to voting rights, it may be too late for Texas Democrats to prevent their state from joining Florida, Georgia and others that have passed major voting restriction laws based on the GOP’s and former President Donald Trump’s rampant lies about widespread voter fraud during the 2020 election.
It will also leave little time for Democrats to devise a strategy for approving federal legislation that could be implemented before midterm elections next year, when Republicans hope to win gubernatorial races that could pave the way for even more voting restrictions in states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Also, Congress’ window for passing the “For the People Act” before states start their process for redistricting is closing, as U.S. census data is expected in mid-August.
During a Wednesday press conference at the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in Washington, Texas Democrats and civil rights leaders ― including Rev. Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III ― called on congressional leaders to cancel or delay the August recess to focus on finding a way forward on voting rights legislation, saying that the situation is far too dire to set aside for yet another month.
“Something is wrong within our nation at this moment, but it is not something that we cannot fix,” King said. “One of the most important steps that we can take is that short step to the ballot box. But you can’t take the step if people make it very difficult to get to. … That’s why we need federal legislation. We don’t need it tomorrow. We don’t need it next week. We need it right now.”
[As] bleak as the outlook for federal legislation looks, the Texas lawmakers still believe they can convince Manchin to support both the legislation and smaller filibuster reforms that would make final passage possible.
The lawmakers and civil rights groups are planning a massive public push for voting rights legislation on Aug. 28, when they will stage rallies in Washington and other major cities to coincide with the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington in 1963. That demonstration helped create momentum for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act a year later. This one, Sharpton said Wednesday, is meant to “get this Senate the power” to move forward.
“We have never had a bill passed that the odds were on our side,” Sharpton said. “We’re gonna pass this bill.”
The Rev. Al Sharpton is organizing a March on Washington on August 28, the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963.
August 28th, on the 58th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech, democracy advocates across the country are joining the historic March On for Voting Rights.
Sign up today at https://t.co/dtMX4Q3m5e #VotingRightsMarch pic.twitter.com/Wp70MbeXnE
— Reverend Al Sharpton (@TheRevAl) July 8, 2021
In Arizona, an ‘I Have a Dream’ voting rights march planned in Phoenix on Aug. 28:
Phoenix will be one of a handful of nationwide locations for a March On For Voting Rights on Aug. 28, the 58th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic March On Washington, when he delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.
The main event is planned for Washington, D.C., with satellite marches set to take place in Atlanta, Houston Phoenix, Sacramento, St. Petersburg and Miami, all places the organizers say voting rights are under attack.
The marches are co-sponsored by civil rights organizations that include the Drum Major Institute, originally founded by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and now led by his son Martin Luther King III, his wife Arndrea Waters King, and their daughter Yolanda Renee King.
The Phoenix march is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. at Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church, 1401 E. Jefferson Street.
In addition to mobilizing people on the day of the event, the organizers also hope to push for more longstanding progress with the passage of the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act in the Senate, said Martin Luther King III, who serves as the Drum Major Institute’s board chairman.
“The Senate is an uphill battle, it feels like,” King said. “But I would have to say that in 1965 when my father and John Lewis and many others were trying to get the Voting Rights Act passed, it was an uphill battle.”
In addition to advocating for voting protection legislation, march organizers also intend to register 2 million voters around the country by the midterm elections next year, King said.
“Ultimately I think if more people participate in the process or are allowed or given the opportunity, then we have hopefully not just better-elected officials but elected officials who truly represent the interests of all people,” King said.
Bishop William Barber II has been holding Moral Monday’s on the Mall in Washington, D.C. in the month of July. In addition, voting rights crusader Stacey Abrams and Fair Fight Action are engaged in a lobbying campaign of lawmakers. Fair Fight Action, CAP Action will bring people to D.C. to lobby lawmakers face-to-face for voting rights bills:
Fair Fight Action, founded by Stacey Abrams, a former Georgia gubernatorial candidate, last month launched Hot Call Summer, urging voters to phone members of Congress in support of the For the People Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, both of which passed the House but have stalled in the Senate.
Voting rights activists and other liberal groups have sought to raise public awareness of the issue by holding protests in Washington. For the past few weeks, groups such as Black Voters Matter, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, the Black Women’s Roundtable, the NAACP, and the Poor People’s Campaign have staged nonviolent protests at House and Senate office buildings. Activists have been arrested for unlawful demonstrations, along with Reps. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, and Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.).
On Thursday, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.) became the third member of Congress to be arrested during nonviolent protests aimed at rallying support for federal voting legislation. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee arrested at voting rights protest on Capitol Hill.
Why does the Congressional Black Caucus have to do all the heavy lifting for voting rights? Where the hell are all the white Democrats who support voting rights? Put your bodies on the front lines. I have said before that President Biden and/or VicePresident Kamala Harris need to join the voting rights march in Texas this week, concluding in Austin, TX on Saturday, to make a moral statement on voting rights (see press release below). Or at least call a joint session of Congress as LBJ did in 1965, and demand passage of voting rights legislation. Words alone are not enough; action is required. Now.
[T]he voters taking part in the action represent 13 states, including six that have enacted stricter voting laws, including Georgia, Arizona and New Hampshire. After a Tuesday morning news conference, they will meet with members of Congress.
The Senate, which is split 50-50 between the two parties, has failed to advance the bills because they can’t clear the 60-vote threshold to avoid a filibuster. The bills also have been stymied by Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin III (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.), who have opposed ending the filibuster.
This is a moral crusade to save American democracy from the fascist barbarians at the gate. We cannot afford to fail. We owe it the generations of Americans who have gone before us who sacrificed and many gave their life in defense of American democracy, and to secure the sacred right to vote.
Contact your senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly daily to demand an end to the Senate filibuster for the fundamental right to vote, and to pass meaningful federal protection of voting rights.
Press release from the front lines of the voting rights march in Texas:
Poor People’s Campaign to announce special guest who will join Moral March for Democracy rally on Saturday in Austin
Contact:
Martha Waggoner | mwaggoner@breachrepairers.org | | 919-295-0802
The Poor People’s Campaign will hold a news conference Friday about plans for a rally Saturday that concludes the 27-mile Moral March for Democracy, which will include a special guest.
To cover online, reporters can register here.
During the news conference, Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, will announce that a guest with deep roots in the political history of Texas will join both the rally and the Aug. 2 National Moral Monday march scheduled for D.C.
The special guest will join country music legend Willie Nelson, who said Thursday that he will join the rally.
In addition to Rev. Barber, the Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, co-chair of the campaign, and Beto O’Rourke, founder of Powered by People, will speak at the news conference.
The news conference will be held at 2 p.m. CT/3 p.m. ET Friday at University Baptist Church, 2130 Guadalupe St. in Austin. Reporters can register here. The live stream is available here.
Friday is the third of four days of a 27-mile Moral March for Democracy from Georgetown to Austin, sponsored by the Poor People’s Campaign, along with about 50 partners. The march ends Saturday in Austin, where the rally will be held at the state Capitol.
Marchers are demanding that Congress approve the following actions by Aug. 6, the 56th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act:
- Restoration of the full Voting Rights Act
- Passage of the For the People’s Act
- An end to the filibuster
- An increase in the federal minimum wage to $15/hour
- Fair and respectful treatment of the nation’s 11 million immigrants
The march is part of the Season of Nonviolent Moral Direct Action that continues Monday, Aug. 2, with a march led by faith leaders, poor people and low-wage workers in Washington, D.C.
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