Senate Republicans Block Debate on Democrats' Election Reform Bill

What’s the story?

• Senate Republicans voted Tuesday to defeat a procedural motion that would’ve allowed the upper chamber to debate and consider amendments to Democrats’ election reform bill, known as the For the People Act.
• The 50-50 vote went strictly along party-lines with all Democrats voting in favor and all Republicans opposed. The motion required 60 votes to succeed and allow initial debate to continue and for amendments to potentially receive votes, which means at least 10 GOP senators would’ve had to vote in favor to overcome the legislative filibuster.
• Republicans’ use of the legislative filibuster to block debate on Democrats’ election reform package on Tuesday is the highest-profile filibuster of the current Congress and arguably the most notable since Democrats voted to block debate on police reform in the summer of 2020.
• The vote is likely to escalate calls for Senate Democrats to use their majority to eliminate the legislative filibuster, which they have been stymied from doing by the opposition of Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), despite many Democrats’ recent support of the filibuster when they were in the minority.

What they’re saying

• Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said in remarks on the floor ahead of the vote that “Republicans across the country” are engaged in voter suppression against “younger, poorer, non-white, and typically Democratic voters” and added:

“It takes 60 votes to start debate, and everyone knows that you still need 60 votes to end debate on a bill. So even if the Republicans don’t like the legislation at the end of the process, let them vote against it then. But no, they don’t even want to debate it. They don’t even want to debate it because they’re afraid. They want to deny the right to vote, make it harder for so many Americans, and they don’t want to talk about it. They want to sweep it under the rug and hope that Americans don’t hear about it.”

• Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) countered Schumer with floor remarks of his own, in which he called “Democrats’ transparently partisan plan” a “recipe for undermining confidence in our elections” and added:

“We know that it would shatter a decades-old understanding that campaign law should have a bipartisan referee, and turn the Federal Election Commission into a partisan-majority cudgel for Democrats to wield against their political opponents. We know that it would let Washington bureaucrats direct federal dollars into politicians’ campaign accounts ― government money for yard signs and attack ads. We know that it would let Democrats take a red pen to election laws in each of the 50 states, neutering popular precautions like voter I.D. while legalizing shady practices like ballot harvesting across the board.”

• Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), who previously expressed opposition to Democrats’ election reform package, voted to support the bill after reaching a compromise with Democratic leadership to ensure his revisions to the bill would be the first amendment to receive a vote if debate had proceeded. He released a statement which explained:

“Over the past month, I have worked to eliminate the far reaching provisions of S. 1, the For the People Act ― which I do not support… This compromise legislation makes it easier to vote by expanding voter access through early voting and vote by mail for those who are eligible and unable to vote in person. Additionally, this bill has been modified to include voter ID requirements that aim to strengthen the security of our elections without making it harder for Americans to vote.”

• Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) spoke in opposition to Democrats’ election reform bill at a press conference, and called it a “national power grab” that would “take away the voices from our local elections officials and our state elections officials.” Ernst added:

“This bill is a power grab for D.C. politicians and bureaucrats. And instead of focusing on the things that are really important to our constituencies back home, the rising prices of goods that our families need every single day, these politicians here in Washington D.C. have decided they want to focus on consolidating power, politicizing the FEC, focusing on ballot harvesting, and funding their own campaigns with taxpayer dollars.”

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr / Creative Commons)