President Biden Delivers An Impassioned Speech For Voting Rights Legislation

President Joe Biden delivered an impassioned speech with soaring rhetoric for voting rights legislation in the birthplace of our democracy, Philadelphia, PA. But he stopped short of calling for the repeal or the reform of the Senate filibuster rule in order that the legislation can be passed.

So, nice speech. But how do you plan to make it happen? If voting rights are a “national imperative,” it requires legislative action with the fierce urgency of now.

CNN reports, Biden forcefully defends US elections: ‘The Big Lie is just that: A big lie’:

President Joe Biden on Tuesday defended the American electoral process amid unrelenting attacks from Republicans who have refused to accept the results of the 2020 presidential election, resulting in restrictive voting laws being passed around the nation.

Biden began his speech in Philadelphia by recounting the stories of Americans who voted in the last election, lauding them for their efforts to cast their ballots amid the Covid-19 pandemic. He noted that the last election had the most votes cast in any election in American history.

But he quickly turned his focus to the attacks on the 2020 election process, calling it the most scrutinized election in American history. He alluded to former President Donald Trump’s complaints about the election results, saying those who would deny the election result are simply denying facts.

“The Big Lie is just that: A big lie,” Biden said.

Video from PBS News Hour.

The Associated Press continues, GOP state voting restrictions ‘un-American,’ Biden declares:

President Joe Biden declared that preserving voting rights is “a test of our time” Tuesday as Texas Democrats took dramatic action to stymie their state’s latest effort in a nationwide Republican push to tighten ballot restrictions.

Biden, who has proclaimed protecting ballot access the central cause of his presidency, has faced sharp criticism from allies for not doing more, though political headwinds and stubborn Senate math have greatly limited its ability to act.

Speaking at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Biden called the efforts to curtail voting accessibility “un-American” and “un-democratic” and launched a broadside against his predecessor, Donald Trump, who baselessly alleged misconduct in the 2020 election after his defeat. Biden called passage of congressional proposals to override the new state voting restrictions and to restore parts of the Voting Rights Act that were curbed in recent years by the Supreme Court “a national imperative.” Yet he avoided any mention of the Senate filibuster that stands in the path of that federal legislation.

Instead, he appeared to tacitly acknowledge the fading hopes for the bills, saying he would launch a nationwide campaign to arm voters with information on rules changes and restrictions ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.

“We have to prepare now,” the president said.

So voter education instead of legislation? This is unilateral disarmament in the face of anti-democratic, anti-majoritarian authoritarian Republican tyranny. You need a nationwide campaign to daily bend the arms of recalcitrant Democratic senators until you break their arms, if necessary. As Biden said in his speech, “the choice is between democracy and autocracy.” On whose side are you, Senators?

Biden’s remarks came a day after Texas Democrats decamped for Washington in an effort to deny their GOP-controlled Legislature the necessary quorum to pass a bill placing new restrictions on voting in the state.

The lawmakers, who arrived in the nation’s capital Monday night, said they were prepared to stay in Washington — out of the reach of Texas law enforcement — until a special legislative session concludes early next month. It marks a dramatic new showdown over voting in America.

Standing near the steps of the U.S. Capitol for a news conference ahead of a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the Democrats promised to “stay out and kill this bill.”

NPR adds, Texas Democrats Urge Biden To Act On Voting Rights As They Protest State Legislation:

Democratic members of the Texas House of Representatives stood in front of the U.S. House in Washington on Tuesday after leaving their state and blocking action on a GOP-sponsored voting measure in Texas that they say amounts to voter suppression. The lawmakers also urged members of Congress and President Biden to act to preserve voting rights nationwide.

Calls for a “Lyndon Johnson moment”

“We are living right now on borrowed time in Texas, and we can’t stay here indefinitely,” Texas state Rep. Rhetta Bowers acknowledged outside the Capitol. “We need Congress to act now.”

The U.S. House has approved the For the People Act, which would provide federal protections to voters, but it has stalled in the Senate.

Texas state Rep. Senfronia Thompson said she did not come to Washington “to take a vacation” but to make sure “that my constituents’ rights will not be stripped from them.” She added that Republicans in the Texas Legislature “may have changed the messiah from Jesus to Trump, but I haven’t.”

U.S. Rep Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, called on Biden to act to preserve voting rights. “What we really need today is a Lyndon Johnson moment,” Doggett said, referring the Texan Johnson’s signing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

“We need the president and the vice president and every Democrat in this Senate working together to preserve American democracy,” Doggett said.

Progressives protest

Progressive activists are also turning up the pressure on Biden. They planned to rally to push the president to use his bully pulpit more forcefully to make the case for enacting the For the People Act.

“He could go around the country and give speeches about it very specifically that would educate voters so that they get on board and they tell their senators that it needs to be passed, and he can rally support for it,” said Vicki Miller of Indivisible Philadelphia, one of the groups protesting outside of Biden’s speech. “This is what presidents do when they prioritize major legislation. And he could be doing that, and we want him to start now.”

Miller also said she hoped to see Biden make the case for amending the Senate’s filibuster rules, specifically for the purpose of passing voting rights legislation. Current rules require 60 votes to overcome a challenge and move legislation forward — a threshold Democrats haven’t been able to meet in this effort.

Those negotiations are going on in private, not in public. NPR reports Vice President Harris Hints That She Has Discussed Filibuster Changes With Senators:

Vice President Harris suggested that she has talked to senators about exceptions to the legislative filibuster but said she will not be publicly negotiating an issue that the White House insists is up to lawmakers, she told NPR in an interview Tuesday.

“I believe that of all of the issues that the United States Congress can take up, the right to vote is the right that unlocks all the other rights,” Harris said. “And for that reason, it should be one of its highest priorities.”

Pressed on whether she is advocating that senators support a carveout to the filibuster for voting rights proposed by Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., Harris said, “I don’t mean this in any offense, but I’m not going to negotiate this way. But I’m certainly having conversations with folks.”

The vice president did not clarify whom she has talked to about voting rights.

[M]any progressives in Congress and outside activists have been calling for the end of the filibuster over voting rights.

Clyburn, a close ally of President Biden, has suggested allowing bills related to the Constitution, including voting legislation, to pass with a simple majority. That could be achieved with the votes of all 50 Democrats and Harris breaking a tie in her role as president of the Senate. Clyburn told Politico that he addressed the idea with Harris.

The White House has said that Biden does not support ending the filibuster altogether but that the administration leaves any changes up to the Senate. The White House did point out that there are not enough votes to end the filibuster outright, with Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona opposed to such a move.

“Obviously, it’s going to require all the Democrats in the Senate to agree with that approach,” Harris said, referring to the exception proposed by Clyburn.

Democrats’ strategy may simply hinge on winning future elections – [That’s not a plan]

Biden last month put Harris in charge of the administration’s voting rights efforts, after the White House said she asked to add the issue to her portfolio. She has been meeting with voting rights groups and traveling the country.

Discussing what the administration can do short of congressional action, Harris pointed primarily to voter registration, education and turnout efforts, as well as voter protection, emphasizing the need for Democrats to win not just in the 2022 midterms, but in state-level elections this year.

When asked if winning elections is the primary strategy for Democrats to overcome Republican voting restrictions, Harris said it is about “something much more fundamental.” Harris cited people working multiple jobs and those with disabilities as being threatened by new restrictions on early and absentee voting. Medical conditions typically qualify voters for absentee ballots, but advocates warn that methods of voting that disabled people rely on, including drive-through voting sites, are being targeted in some states.

“I do believe that in many of these states, they are trying to make it more difficult for people to vote so that they won’t vote,” the vice president said. “And this is then about attempts to take the power from the people, and we all need to stand and say, ‘We will not allow this to happen on our watch.’ “

Speeches are not enough. It requires action.

Harris told NPR that part of her effort is “lifting up folks like the Texas legislature and the voices of those courageous leaders.”

Harris recognizes headwinds to fight voting restrictions in court

Among the administration’s most aggressive moves to protect voting rights is a lawsuit the Department of Justice filed to block Georgia’s new voting law, arguing it targets the rights of Black voters. But a recent Supreme Court ruling upholding voting restrictions in Arizona showed that a conservative judiciary may stand in the way of legal efforts to fight such laws.

Harris acknowledged that the ruling complicates efforts to fight voting restrictions through litigation. “What the Supreme Court has done, it does present a real challenge for us,” she said.

With all due respect, for a former attorney general it does not seem to me that you fully appreciate the gravity of this threat and the urgency for action now. I’m hearing too much deference to the archaic U.S. Senate and prima donna senators.