Senate GOP Blocks Democrats' Latest Election Reform Bill

What’s the story?

• Senate Republicans voted Wednesday to defeat a procedural motion that would’ve allowed the chamber to debate Democrats’ latest election reform bill, known as the Freedom to Vote Act.The vote went strictly along party-lines in the evenly-divided Senate, with all Democrats voting in favor and all Republicans opposed. 
• The motion required 60 votes to overcome the legislative filibuster and allow initial debate to continue, so at least 10 GOP senators would’ve had to cross the aisle and join Democrats. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) changed his vote from “yea” to “nay” so that he can potentially bring the motion up for another vote in the future, making the final margin 49-51.
• Wednesday’s vote marks the second time Senate Republicans have blocked Democrats’ efforts to overhaul the nation’s election laws this Congress, as a similar procedural motion on the For the People Act also failed on a 50-50 vote in late June. GOP senators had signaled that the Freedom to Vote Act would fail as well when Democratic leadership announced the vote.
• 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 to block GOP abortion and police reform bills, among other items.

What they’re saying

• Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) previously noted that the Freedom to Vote Act “represents the first time every single Senate Democrat has united on voting rights legislation.” He said Wednesday that it’s untenable for the Senate minority to block debate on Democrats’ election reform bill, foreshadowing a potential increase in pressure on Manchin and Sinema to eliminate the filibuster: 

“What we can’t accept is a situation where one side is calling for bipartisan debate and bipartisan cooperation while the other refuses to even engage in a dialogue. If our Republican colleagues don’t like our ideas they have a responsibility to present their own.”

• Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) spoke on the floor Wednesday and countered that this legislation “is only a compromise in the sense that the left and the far left argued among themselves about exactly how much power to grab in which areas.” He added:

“The Senate knows how to make law in a productive, bipartisan way. We’ve done it this year on multiple subjects. We have done it on election issues themselves in recent memory when there was an actual problem that needed solving and an actually bipartisan process.”

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: McConnell: Gage Skidmore via Flickr / Creative Commons | Schumer: Senate Democrats via Flickr / Creative Commons)