WASHINGTON: If you don’t succeed the first time, vote Republican again.
The same strategy appears to be pursuing Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer as New York Democrats on Wednesday forced another test vote on legislation to scrap the country’s election laws. Republicans have blocked it for the fourth time since June.
Democrats entered the year with unified, albeit narrow, control of Washington and a desire to counter a wave of restrictive new voting laws in Republican-led states, many of which falsely claimed plagiarism in Donald Trump’s 2020 election. were inspired by.
But his initial optimism has given way to a grinding chain of doomed votes that are meant to highlight the Republican opposition, but has done little to advance a cause that remains a top priority for the party ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. Is.
The Senate voted against the debate on voting legislation on Wednesday, with Republicans this time filming an update of the landmark Voting Rights Act, a 1960 column of civil rights legislation. GOP senators oppose Democratic voting bills as a power grab.
This is a low, low point in the history of this body,” Schumer said after the failed vote, adding later, that the Senate is better off.
Time is running out, however, activists warn. The redistribution of congressional districts (a once-a-decade process Democrats want to overhaul to make them less partisan) is already underway. And the Senate is poised to split the city for a home-state term next week.
Senate Democrats must stay in town and focus on the final act in this fight, said Fred Wertheimer, who leads the good government group Democracy 21.
The latest measure blocked Wednesday by Republicans differs from Democrats’ earlier voting bill that touched on every aspect of the electoral process. It has a narrower focus and would restore the Justice Department’s ability to police voting laws in states with a history of discrimination.
The measure attracted the support of a Republican, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, after Democrats agreed to make the changes they sought. But all other Republicans opposed to starting a debate on the bill.
Every time Washington Democrats make some changes around the margins and come back to bite more on the same apple, we know exactly what they’re trying to do, said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. , who slammed the vote as political theatre. Trump-up a bill somewhere.
Murkowski also said that he still has underlying issues with the bill in writing, while criticizing Schumer’s decision to force the show to repeatedly vote.
Let’s give ourselves space to work in the aisle, she said on Wednesday. Our goal should be to avoid a partisan bill, not to get repeated unsuccessful votes.
The Democrats’ John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, named for the late Georgia congressman who defined the issue one of his careers, would restore voting rights protections terminated by the Supreme Court. Under the proposal, the Justice Department will again make new changes to voting laws in states that have racked up a series of violations, including them in a mandatory review process known as preclearance.
This practice was first implemented under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. But it was overruled in 2013 by a conservative majority in the Supreme Court, which set the formula for determining which states need to review their laws was outdated and unfairly punitive. However, the court said that Congress can come up with a new formula. Bill does just that.
A second high court ruling in July made it more difficult to challenge voting restrictions in court under another section of the law.
The law’s pre-withdrawal provisions were reauthorized five times by Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support since it was first passed decades ago. But after the 2013 Supreme Court ruling, Republican support for the measure waned.
Although the GOP has shown no signs that its opposition will waver, there are signs that some of the voting changes that Democrats want are not as electorally beneficial to the party as some hope.
Republican Glenn Yunkin’s victory in Tuesday’s gubernatorial election in Virginia offers the latest test case.
Democrats took control of all parts of Virginia’s government in 2019 and began liberalizing the states’ voting laws. They made mail voting accessible to all and required a 45-day window for early voting, the longest in the country. This year they passed the Voting Rights Act that made it easier to sue for blocking ballot access.
But those changes didn’t hurt Yunkin, who comfortably defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe, a popular former governor who was seeking a valid term.
It is still unlikely to change the calculus of Republicans.
Are we all reading tea leaves from Virginia? Yes, absolutely, said Murkowski. Will this be something that coworkers will also see? This is just an example.
Meanwhile, Democrats say they haven’t given up on their pushback and believe Republicans could start a debate on overhauling the hurdle Filbuster, which allows the law to be blocked until it is 60. Don’t get votes.
“We can’t even debate basic bills,” said Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat. The next step is to work on ideas to restore the Senate.
Disclaimer: This post has been self-published from the agency feed without modification and has not been reviewed by an editor
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