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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: Voting Rights Legislation

Warren: We Can Launch Voting Rights Bill, But Don’t Yet Have Landing Gear

Sen. Elizabeth Warren on how Democrats will fight for voting rights legislation: “We can win the vote to protect the vote all across America. We just got to get to that vote, and that’s where we get tangled up on the filibuster.”

Senate Democrats are careening toward a final showdown on voting rights, with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer putting forth a bill that would make major changes to American elections — and putting pressure on members to change the Senate’s filibuster rules in order to pass them.

Democrats have effectively combined parts of other proposals in recent years into one mega bill on voting rights. The new bill — titled “Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act” combines the Freedom to Vote Act and the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act into one 735-page behemoth.

If the package became law, it would represent a dramatic overhaul of nearly all aspects of the American electoral system, affecting everything from how votes are cast to how they are tallied across the country. And it would sweep well beyond that, remaking campaign finance laws and likely triggering a significant redraw of the nation’s House districts.

But while the House passed the bill on a party-line vote Thursday, it faces a blockage in the 50-50 Senate: the filibuster rule. Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Krysten Sinema (D-Ariz.) remain opposed to changing the chamber’s rules requiring 60 votes to move forward with most legislation, and the bill has not garnered Republican support.

“While I continue to support these bills, I will not support separate actions that worsen the underlying disease of division infecting our country,” Sinema said in a floor speech on Thursday.

Here are some of the most consequential provisions in the legislation — and what was left out. To read more go to the link below:

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/14/democrats-voting-rights-megabill-left-out-527095

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