Voting legislation that's a top priority for Democrats and civil rights leaders seemed headed for defeat, a devastating setback, enabled by President Biden’s own party. Two senators refuse to support rule changes to overcome a Republican filibuster.
FILE - Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, speaks to the media after Senate Democrats met privately with President Joe Biden, Jan. 13, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington.
The debate carries echoes of an earlier era when the Senate filibuster was deployed by opponents of civil rights legislation. It comes as Democrats and other voting advocates nationwide warn that Republican-led states are passing laws making it more difficult for Black Americans and others to vote by consolidating polling locations, requiring certain types of identification and ordering other changes.Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer acknowledged the current bill’s likely defeat this week.
Martin Luther King III, the son of the late civil rights leader, compared Sinema and Manchin to a white moderate his father wrote about during the civil rights battles of the 1950s and 1960s — a person who declared support for the goals of Black voting rights but not the direct actions or demonstrations that ultimately led to passage of landmark legislation.
“It’s time for every elected official in America to make it clear where they stand,” Biden said on the King holiday. “It’s time for every American to stand up. Speak out, be heard. Where do you stand?” Both Manchin and Sinema have argued that preserving the filibuster rules, requiring a 60-vote majority to pass most legislation, is important for fostering bipartisanship. They also warn of what would happen if Republicans win back majority control, as is distinctly possible this election year.
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