Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., led opposition among Republicans to a voting rights bill that centrist Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia hoped to corrall GOP votes for. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
Senate Democrats are set to try again to advance voting rights legislation on Wednesday, despite widespread opposition from Republicans.
Democrats say federal voting legislation is needed to counteract a wave of new restrictions from Republican-controlled state legislatures across the country. Critics of those laws say they are making it more difficult to vote, particularly for people of color.
"Democrats are ready to have this debate right now," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters Tuesday, describing the legislation as a "a bill that every Senate Democrat is united behind, enthusiastically."
The bill would among other things establish Election Day as a national holiday, set national minimum standards for early voting and voting by mail, and create new requirements for groups not currently required to disclose their financial donors. It also includes standards for states that require voter identification, something that was a priority of West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin.
The Freedom to Vote Act was negotiated by a group of Senate Democrats, including Manchin, who was his party's lone holdout on the sweeping voting rights measure that passed the House earlier this year. Parts of the House-passed voting rights bill, called the For the People Act, were scaled back to win over Manchin's support, as well as some Republicans. Manchin played a key role in courting Republican support for the compromise bill in recent weeks.
In the 50-50 Senate, Democrats would need support from Republicans to reach the 60-vote threshold to break a filibuster and allow the bill to be considered.
Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat, called on Republicans to at least agree to debate on the bill, saying "don't use the filibuster, the weapon of Jim Crow" to block consideration of voting rights legislation.
But so far, there have been few public signs of movement among Republicans.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday that it is his "hope and anticipation" that no Republicans will vote for the Freedom to Vote Act, which he described as an attempt by Democratic lawmakers "to have the federal government take over how elections are conducted all over America."
Should the procedural vote on Wednesday fail as is expected, it is likely to thrust lawmakers into another high-profile fight over whether to change Senate rules to abolish the legislative filibuster, or to carve out an exception for voting rights legislation. But some Democratic senators, including Manchin, have rejected calls to change the filibuster.
Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat, said that Wednesday's vote was an opportunity to show that Democrats were united on voting rights legislation.
"We have to very clearly demonstrate to some of our colleagues that we've exhausted every other option," said Van Hollen, who supports eliminating the filibuster. "But patience is not eternal, time is running out."
Frustration and impatience among voting rights activists has grown as the Senate heads toward another attempt to take up federal voting rights legislation that has little chance of passage with Republicans united in opposition.
On Tuesday, dozens of activists protested outside the White House, calling on Biden to personally do more, including through increased pressure on members of his own party to change filibuster rules to pave the way for legislation to protect the right to vote. The activists been a regular presence on Pennsylvania Avenue, putting visible pressure on the White House. Most acknowledged that the voting rights legislation had little chance of passage without filibuster changes.
"I think what Joe Biden understands is the filibuster is not written into the Constitution. It is tradition. And tradition evolves and changes," said Joseph Geevarghese, the executive director of Our Revolution, a group aligned with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent. Geevarghese said that if Congress can't find a way to pass voting rights, the consequences could be stark for Democrats.
"If we don't pass the Freedom to Vote legislation, Democrats are going to get slaughtered in 2022 and 2024," he said. "If people can't get to the polls and exercise their right to vote, our power is in jeopardy and that's what this is about."
Other advocates argue voting rights has not been Biden's priority, and that the president has demonstrated more commitment to his infrastructure bill and sweeping social spending package.
"He put an emphasis on the infrastructure bill, he has prioritized that. He has called people into the White House," said Virginia Kase Solomón, CEO of the League of Women Voters. "He has made sure that he has everybody that he needs on board. So we're saying, 'You need to do the same thing for voting rights.' "
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that Biden has taken "every step possible under his purview" to protect voting rights, and that there would be more discussion about a path forward after Wednesday's vote.
In March, Biden signed an executive order promoting voting rights, calling on federal agencies to develop their own plans to encourage voter registration and participation. Vice President Harris, who has taken the lead on voting rights for the administration, announced an expansion of the Democratic National Committee's "I Will Vote" program, aimed at voter education and protection.
Administration officials also pointed to the Justice Department's announcement that it was doubling its voting rights enforcement staff, as well as the June announcement that the department was suing Georgia over its new voting law.
Biden and Harris also spoke by phone this week to a number of senators about the legislation, the White House said.
Biden spoke with Democratic Sens. Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Alex Padilla of California, according to a White House official, while Harris spoke with Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Jon Ossoff of Georgia, as well as Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine. All of those lawmakers are supporters of the Freedom to Vote Act.
Asked about those calls, Psaki said that they were "conversations about the path forward" and conversations about the president's "commitment to ... protecting voting rights," though she did not outline any future plans.
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