Sen. Sinema Is Gaslighting Arizona Students On Hunger Strike To Pass Voting Rights Legislation – She Remains Steadfast In Her Support For Senate Filibuster Rule

This has not received the attention it deserves in the Arizona political media, because voting rights, go figure.

The Guardian reports, Arizona students stage hunger strike to urge Sinema to support voting reform:

Since Monday, a group of 20 college students from the University of Arizona and Arizona State have been on hunger strike in an effort to pressure one of the most heavily criticized Democratic senators, Kyrsten Sinema, to take action on the passage of crucial voting reform legislation.

The students say they will be striking indefinitely until Arizona’s Sinema agrees to support the Freedom to Vote Act, a bill that would ensure fair election measures like automatic voter registration and the protection and expansion of vote by mail.

Their target is not easy. Sinema, who was once active in the Green party, has drifted far away from the progressive wing of her party and is now widely seen – along with West Virginia’s Joe Manchin – as a centrist obstructionist roadblock on much of Joe Biden’s agenda. As such, she has earned the anger of many Democrats, from her fellow elected officials to grassroots organizers.

The Freedom to Vote Act would directly benefit those most affected by voter suppression laws and gerrymandering, especially Black and brown communities, immigrants and young voters, and voters with disabilities. The students are working with Un-Pac, a non-partisan group organizing in the hope of restoring the Voting Rights Act through the Freedom to Vote Act and eliminating gerrymandering, dark money and other threats to fair representation.

Since its introduction, the bill has been consistently opposed by Republican lawmakers and is held up in the Senate where it has been blocked by Republican senators. Despite his promise to restore the Voting Rights Act during his campaign, Biden and the Democratic majority have failed to advance any voting rights legislation this year, despite a broad push by Republicans across the US to pass laws restricting access to the ballot.

In 2021 alone, US Republicans have taken full advantage of the filibuster – the Senate rule requiring 60 votes to advance most legislation – and deterred voting rights bills on four different occasions. According to a recent reportfrom the Brennan Institute for Justice, 19 states enacted 33 different laws that make it more difficult for citizens to vote after the 2020 election, in which record numbers of citizens went to the polls. At the same time there has been widespread gerrymandering in mostly Republican states, chipping away at Democratic seats and splitting up voters from communities of color.

Last week Sinema agreed to a private meeting with the students via Zoom, where she listened to their concerns and said she supported the passage of the legislation. However, she has a history of supporting the filibuster [and continues to do so.]

MSNBC’s Zerlina Maxwell reported on this hunger strike for voting rights.

“We are very clear from that meeting that Senator Sinema understands our message – that we are hunger striking until the bill passes and we would rather make this sacrifice than suffer the consequences of inaction on federal voting rights and campaign finance reform now,” said Shana Gallagher, executive director of Un-Pac. “We now believe it is incumbent upon President Biden to call another vote before the end of the year.”

The students are now traveling to Washington DC, where Biden held the Summit for Democracy. Student organizers Brandon Ortega and Georgia Linden said the protestors will shift the pressure from Sinema and plan to continue striking indefinitely outside the White House in an effort to persuade Biden to talk to them and ultimately, pass the Freedom to Vote Act into law before the end of the year.

“We are honestly confused and disappointed that President Biden hasn’t prioritized this more,” said Gallagher. “We don’t understand why he’s not treating this existential issue with the urgency that we are, but we are still hopeful that he has time to change course and our sacrifice will help the administration to act.”

As of now, the group is hopeful of drawing the attention of the White House.

“We did not originally request a meeting with Sinema but when she found out about our action, she wanted to meet with us to express her commitment to this legislation,” said Gallagher. [She also continues to support the Senate filibuster, so her support for the bill is aspirational only. As Zerlina Maxwell says, Sinema is gaslighting on her support for voting rights legislation.] “Our remaining demand is a meeting with the Biden administration but as of now, we have not heard a response.”

The group is well aware that their hunger strike could last longer than they hope, but they are prepared for the hardships.

“It’s definitely been difficult, but we do have a medical team and a support team that is taking care of all of us,” said Ortega. “We’re grateful that we have dozens of people across the country doing solidarity fasts and vigils and there has been a lot of support, most notably from a group of veterans who came to the Arizona state house to thank us and to tell us they were humbled by our actions. 84% of Arizonians support this bill, so we’re united as a generation and as a state.”

The Independent adds, Kyrsten Sinema meets with Arizona students hunger striking for voting rights:

A group of students participating in a hunger strike to demand congressional action on voting rights have met with Democratic US Senator Kyrsten Sinema, who has opposed reforming filibuster rules that have blocked progress on legislation.

Now entering a sixth day of their hunger strike, the group of 20 students from Arizona State University, University of Arizona and other colleges in the state have urged the Arizona senator to support federal voting rights legislation as well as a carveout for filibuster rules to prevent Republican obstruction.

Members of AZ Youth Hunger Strike for Democracy spoke with Senator Sinema on 9 December, their fourth day of their indefinite hunger strike, as they prepared to travel to Washington DC.

“Senator Sinema agreed with us: our voting rights are under attack by state legislators in Arizona and across the country, and faith in our elections are at a historic low,” striker Georgia Linden said in a statement.

“She thanked us for our efforts, expressed a desire to remain in conversation, and reiterated her support for the Freedom To Vote Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act,” according to Ms Linden.

The group hopes that Senator Sinema “will do whatever it takes” when the time comes for the bills’ passage, she added.

Linden sounded less optimistic about Sen. Sinema coming around on Senate filibuster reform than this report indicates in an interview on MSNBC’s The ReidOut on Tuesday.

Georgia Linden, a University of Arizona student and @LetsUnpac organizer on a hunger strike for #VotingRights, on meeting with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who "stood strong on not carving out rules of the filibuster to push this act forward." #TheReidOut #reiders pic.twitter.com/WxiwUx5HcK

— The ReidOut (@thereidout) December 15, 2021

Joy Reid also interviewed Sirius XM radio talk show host Joe Madison, “the Black Eagle,” who has been on a hunger strike for voting rights since November 8.

Radio host @MadisonSiriusXM, who has been on a hunger strike for #VotingRights since Nov. 8, tells @JoyAnnReid, "It's up to us now." #TheReidOut #reiders pic.twitter.com/x0DCM4lJRb

— The ReidOut (@thereidout) December 15, 2021

The group has not received a response from Joe Biden’s administration about requests to meet “to discuss the moral urgency of this moment,” according to the group’s statement.

“We hope that by coming to DC, with empty stomachs but hearts full of determination, the president will agree to meet with us, and more importantly, act with the urgency that this moment requires,” Ms Linden said.

[S]enators Sinema and Joe Manchin – both Democrats – have opposed filibuster reform efforts, imperiling legislation that they have both co-sponsored.

I am sick and tired of this dynamic duo of dipshits.

FACT CHECK from the Brennan Center for Justice: “The filibuster itself has been changed numerous times. Between 1969 and 2014,  161 exceptions to its supermajority requirement were created. Senate majorities from both parties have approved carve outs and other changes related to executive branch and judicial nominations, budget reconciliation measures, and more.” There have been additional exceptions since 2014.

I would point out that twice in just the past month, the Senate has done a work around of the Senate filibuster rule so that Democrats could raise the federal debt ceiling without any Republican votes. Sens. Manchin and Sinema both voted for this exception without any objection about preserving the Senate filibuster rule. If they will do it for an economic reason, they sure as hell should be willing to do it to save American democracy from the enemies of democracy.

The Washington Post reports today, The filibuster debate is (maybe) coming to a head on voting rights. Here’s what could happen.

Months-long talks among Democrats in Congress about how to pass voting rights legislation over Republican objections are getting more serious — and more urgent.

“We had better come up with some way to get around it,” Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), the House majority whip, recently warned his Democratic colleagues in the Senate, “because this democracy is teetering on collapse.”

Democrats want to pass the bill before the end of the year, when it might [already] be too late to make changes to how elections in key states are run for the 2022 midterm elections.

The biggest (but not only) Democratic opponent to weakening the filibuster is Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.). Punchbowl News reports that on Tuesday he’s meeting with a group of moderate Democratic senators to gauge his openness to tweaking it so Democrats can pass a voting-rights bill they’ve all coalesced around. If Manchin is onboard, the Senate’s centuries-old procedure for blocking legislation could be eroded.

Here are the options Democrats seem to talking about most, ranked by likelihood of them happening.

Least likely: Go nuclear and get rid of the filibuster entirely

The filibuster is probably a goner, eventually. Over the past decade, senators on both sides of the aisle have eroded the filibuster so the minority party has less and less say. “The Senate is on this long march toward majority rule,” said Sarah Binder, a legislative expert with the Brookings Institution.

Note: Simple majority rule is how all the world’s democracies work.

But it probably won’t happen this Congress. A majority of senators must agree to a rules change, and Manchin isn’t the only Senate Democrat opposed to making such a big change to how the Senate works (even as Democratic Party leaders like former president and senator Barack Obama urge the Senate to get rid of the filibuster).

Manchin has said absolutely no way would he vote to dispose of the filibuster completely. That’s a pretty firm line, and it would be remarkable if he backed off. Fellow Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) is also vocal about wanting to keep the filibuster. Other Democratic senators are more quiet in their opposition. The Senate is wary of becoming like the House of Representatives where the minority party has little-to-no say. And while it might ultimately happen, a 50-50 Senate with the swing vote being a Democrat from a deep red state isn’t conducive.

Also not very likely: Keep the filibuster as-is

The filibuster is going to erode when one party wants a policy enacted more than they want to protect the minority’s rights. Democrats’ desire to expand voting rights and curb partisan gerrymandering — before they might be locked out of the majority in the House of Representatives for years to come — could come close to that.

Democratic lawmakers see voting rights legislation as nothing short of necessary to protect democracy after former president Donald Trump tried to overturn his election loss.

“If forced to choose between a Senate rule and democracy itself,” wrote Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) in March, “I know where I will come down.”

Why are Sens. Manchin and Sinema unwilling to make this morally righteous choice? What does this say about their character?

The party is also getting lots of pressure from its base. Voting-rights advocates and civil rights groups are frustrated that Democrats have been unable to push through this key campaign promise. The Senate has voted several times on several different versions of this bill, and Republicans have blocked it every time.

Possible: Tweak the filibuster by carving out a one-time exception to voting rights

The Senate can modify its rules however it wants. So if senators want to end the filibuster just for one item, like a bill on voting rights, they can do that with a simple majority vote.

A number of Democrats in Congress see this as a less-dramatic option. Election reforms can pass over Republican objections, but the filibuster is still intact for another day, like when Democrats are in the minority and want to use it to stop Republican legislation.

But senators need all 50 Democrats onboard for this, and Manchin may not be one of them. He’s said earlier this year that he “can’t imagine” changes like this to the filibuster out of concern — an accurate one, some parliamentary experts say — that it’s a slippery slope to ending the filibuster entirely. What’s to say that Republicans, when they get in power, won’t make carve outs for legislation whenever they please? (Manchin did support a carve out for filibustering the debt ceiling last week, but that was an elaborate and one-time compromise between Senate Democratic and Republican leaders to avoid a default that he had little to do with.)

But Manchin did help author the election reform bill that Democrats want to pass, so there might be more wiggle room here to convince him to make an exception to the filibuster just this once.

Most likely: Make the filibuster more painful to execute for the minority party

The filibuster is a weird creature. A single senator can block legislation by just threatening to do it. That threat is enough to require 60 votes in the Senate to advance bills.

What if, the thinking goes among some Democrats, the Senate returned to the old days when senators had to actually launch a filibuster: the talking filibuster.

That might make filibusters less common, because who wants to stand on the Senate floor and talk for hours or days on end? It would be a battle of wills — the minority party’s willingness to undergo physical discomfort to stop legislation, and the majority party’s willingness to wait it out.

But senators could use this to stop up all Senate business. And this proposal doesn’t actually end or even substantially change the filibuster. After a senator is done talking, current Senate rules say they need to muster 60 votes to end debate.

That’s also why this is the likeliest option, to take the filibuster literally. It makes the filibuster more difficult to undertake but keeps it intact.

Though any compromise that keeps the filibuster intact likely means Democrats still don’t have enough votes to pass voting-rights legislation.

The Hill adds, Manchin convenes bipartisan group to talk Senate rules reform. Oh good, the megalomaniac Manchin, who has never successfully shepherded a bill through the Senate to my knowledge, is asking the enemies of democracy for permission to change the Senate rules that empowers their tyranny of the minority. How did that work out for you?  “There was no meeting of the minds,” Sen. Romney said.” Nah, you don’t say.

The Hill further adds, Democrats push Manchin on ‘nuclear option’ for voting rights:

Senate Democrats are escalating pressure on Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to get behind using the “nuclear option” to change the filibuster and break a months-long stalemate on voting rights legislation.

The flurry of talks — including dedicating a closed-door caucus lunch to the issue despite a public hyper-focus on passing President Biden’s climate and social spending bill — comes as Democrats are facing intense pressure to pass election legislation though there isn’t yet a clear path forward.

A group of Democrats, tapped by Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), met with Manchin Tuesday as part of rolling discussions. But Manchin, simultaneously, is pushing for rules changes to be bipartisan and holding talks with Republicans, who are unlikely to support the sort of reform needed to get voting legislation passed.

Underscoring the frustration within the caucus, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) spoke out during the Democratic lunch, and separately on the Senate floor, about the need to pass voting rights legislation before taking up the Build Back Better legislation and that it would be “irresponsible” for Democrats not to act.

Once we handle the debt ceiling, the Senate must prioritize passing federal voting rights legislation.
 
TUNE IN NOW as I press upon my Senate colleagues why protecting our sacred right to vote is the *most* important issue we face this Congress. https://t.co/z3qpwgAEqs

— Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (@SenatorWarnock) December 14, 2021

“I’m struck by the speed with which we decided to change the rules when it came to the economy,” he told reporters, referring to the one-time exemption for the debt ceiling. “But this has dragged on for months. Our democracy is clearly in peril.”

Warnock said that he had spoken to Democrats, including Manchin, over the weekend, but that “Democrats [Senators] have to decide — first of all it’s a moral question — but how do you tell the people as they did in January, and in November, to stand up and use their power and their voice if we won’t use ours?”

Warnock isn’t alone in wanting to move voting rights before the end of the year, which would require changing the rules with only Democratic votes.

Tensions have been simmering for months among Democrats and outside groups about the inability to get voting rights and election reform legislation passed. The issue was viewed as a top priority when they retook control of both Congress and the White House in January, but multiple bills have run into the 60-vote legislative filibuster.

Schumer has vowed that he wants to pass voting rights by the end of the year, and said Tuesday that there are “active discussions going on.”

“I think there’s a universal view in our caucus that we need to get something done. … There’s a strong belief in the Senate that we can restore the Senate, and at the same time, deal with voting rights, and that’s what we’re aiming to do,” he said.

As part of the effort to find a path forward, Schumer appointed a group of Democratic senators, who lead the talks on voting rights legislation, to spearhead discussions within the caucus about how to change the Senate rules. That group includes Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Angus King (I-Maine) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.).

The three Democrats met with Manchin on Tuesday, which they stressed were part of rolling discussions they were having with their conservative colleague.

“Little by little we’re making progress,” Kaine said about the discussions with Manchin, adding that they have a “narrow task but we’re making some progress.”

Though nixing or making changes to the 60-vote threshold required for most legislation is an idea that’s gained quick traction within the 50-vote Democratic caucus, Manchin has been a key holdout. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) has also said she doesn’t support nixing the filibuster and has appeared skeptical about the idea of a carve-out for specific issues.

Manchin caught the attention of voting rights activists this week when asked about a carve out for voting rights, an idea has previously opposed, he told reporters that “we’re talking about that. Talking about everything, the rules.”

But to get that rules change through the Senate, Democrats would have to deploy the “nuclear option” to change the rules with only a simple majority, something Manchin has long opposed.

Manchin said on Tuesday that he thought changes to the Senate rules need to be bipartisan [still chasing mythical unicorns]. To change the rules without the nuclear option, Democrats would likely need 67 votes, meaning the support of at least 17 GOP senators.

“All of my discussions have been bipartisan, with Republicans and Democrats. The rules change should be done to be where we all have input in this rules change because we’re going to have to live with it,” Manchin said.

For centuries, Americans have fought and died for the right to vote. We have Americans on a hunger strike willing to die for the right to vote right now. And this dynamic duo of dipshits in the Senate will not do what everyone knows is necessary in order to save American democracy from the enemies of democracy. They are appeasing evil. I believe this goes well beyond preserving the Jim Crow relic Senate filibuster rule. This can’t possibly be their only motivation.