Civic Register
| 1.12.22
Biden Urges Senate to Eliminate Filibuster to Clear Way for Democrats’ Election Reforms
Do you support or oppose ending the filibuster for Democrats’ election reforms?
What’s the story?
- President Joe Biden delivered a speech in Georgia on Tuesday to encourage senators Democrats to eliminate their chamber’s legislative filibuster, which requires 60 votes for most legislation, and thereby clear the path for Democrats’ latest election reform proposal.
- During his speech in Georgia, Biden called out former President Donald Trump on several occasions, saying that the “defeated former president and his supporters use the Big Lie about the 2020 election to fuel torrent and torment and anti-voting laws ― new laws designed to suppress your vote, to subvert our elections.”
- Biden said that Democrats’ proposed reforms to federal elections laws are needed to stave off state-level election reforms he compared to the “Jim Crow” laws that segregated blacks from whites in the South and largely deprived them of the right to vote from the end of post-Civil War Reconstruction until the 1960s:
“Jim Crow 2.0 is about two insidious things: voter suppression and election subversion. It’s no longer about who gets to vote; it’s about making it harder to vote. It’s about who gets to count the vote and whether your vote counts at all. It’s not hyperbole; this is a fact.”
- President Biden said that he “will defend the right to vote, our democracy against all enemies ― foreign and, yes, domestic.” He said that the “goal of the former president and his allies is to disenfranchise anyone who votes against them.” Biden then asked rhetorically how senators want to be remembered, likening opponents of his stance to segregationists and Civil War-era secessionists:
“Do you want to be on the side of Dr. King or George Wallace? Do you want to be on the side of John Lewis or Bull Connor? Do you want to be on the side of Abraham Lincoln or Jefferson Davis? This is the moment to decide to defend our elections, to defend our democracy.”
- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) spoke on the Senate floor Wednesday and criticized Biden for “rhetoric unbecoming of a President of the United States.” McConnell cited those remarks as a reason for preserving the Senate’s legislative filibuster:
“In less than a year, ‘restoring the soul of America’ has become: agree with me, or you’re a bigot. From lowering the temperature to invoking totalitarian states and the Civil War. This inflammatory rhetoric was not an attempt to persuade skeptical Democratic or Republican senators. In fact, you could not invent a better advertisement for the legislative filibuster than a president abandoning rational persuasion for pure demagoguery. A president shouting that 52 senators and millions of Americans are racist unless he gets whatever he wants is proving exactly why the Framers built the Senate to check his power. This whole display is the best possible argument for preserving the Senate rules that extend deliberation, force bipartisan compromise, and let cooler heads prevail.”
- The Senate is likely to take up a proposal to alter or eliminate the filibuster sometime before Monday, although the specifics of the plan and the timing of the vote is unclear. Whenever the vote occurs, it’s expected to fail given that at least two Democrats ― with Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) the most vocal ― and all 50 Republicans support the legislative filibuster’s 60 vote threshold.
- While he didn’t address Biden’s references to him in the Georgia speech, former President Donald Trump did an interview with NPR on Tuesday in which he repeated his false claims that the 2020 presidential election was “corrupt” and “rigged” and that Biden didn’t get 80 million votes.
- Trump also lashed out at GOP Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), who said on Sunday that the 2020 presidential election was legitimate and that “there was no evidence of widespread fraud that would have altered the results of the election.” Trump said Rounds was “totally wrong” to suggest that making false claims about election fraud in 2020 would discourage GOP voters in the future. The former president insisted, “I think it’s an advantage, because otherwise they’re going to do it again in ‘22 and ‘24.”
- The statement Rounds released in response to Trump’s backlash defended the election results and noted:
“During the electoral certification process, we did our due diligence and looked at the challenges made by the former president’s lawyers. Over 90 senators agreed that there was not enough evidence to overturn the results and, therefore, certified the election as our Constitution calls for. Additionally, Vice President Mike Pence stood his ground, acknowledged President Biden’s victory and acted with integrity. It’s time the rest of us do the same.”
RELATED READING
- Schumer Signals Vote on ‘Nuclear Option’ to Eliminate Senate’s Filibuster (1/11/22)
- Manchin Rejects Democrats’ ‘For the People Act’ & Reiterates Support for Preserving Senate’s Filibuster (6/7/21)
- Democrats Flip-Flop on the Filibuster After Winning the Senate Majority (3/30/21)
- Senate Nears Powersharing Deal After Moderate Dems Vow to Preserve Filibuster (1/29/21)
- Should Senate Democrats Eliminate the Legislative Filibuster? (1/25/21)
— Eric Revell
(Photo Credit: jlhervàs via Flickr / Creative Commons)
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Hey, remember that Joe Biden said that if he didn't get his way with the voting reform bills the midterm elections would be illegitimate? Don't tell me that anyone, especially Joe Biden, has the high moral ground on this issue. He's a whining autocrat who cries and yells when he doesn't get his way. Name one person that has had their right to vote taken away. One person.
Oh the convenient narrow-minded, short-sighted, partisan, laughable emotional fallacy and hypocrisy. You libtards should be embarrassed. 🤦♂️ https://babylonbee.com/news/oops-schumer-gives-passionate-speech-defending-filibuster-after-accidentally-printing-his-speech-from-two-years-ago
Good one, Ruth! ❤️😊❤️. So true!
The dems use the filibuster when it suits their agenda, talk about being hypocritical!
Election reforms - permanent mail in ballots for all! 🤦🏻♂️. I’d ans vaccine passport required to eat but you can’t require it to vote….🤔. Democrats are just straight up crooks. Go Brandon! #fjb
If they don’t eliminate the filibuster they need to reform it. Change it back to a talking filibuster the way it used to be! If the filibuster can be changed for the budget or as Republicans have done for Judge’s and tax breaks for the rich why in GOD’s name can’t it be changed for our basic democracy! Voting rights is the basis of our democracy without it our democracy will fail. We must stop any attempt to change us to an authoritarian regime! We are on the verge of losing everything! What kind of country do we intend on passing on to our children? What we do now matters!
The headline says it all-end the filibuster so that the dems can get on with their agenda. The dems weren’t against using the filibuster over 100 times against Trump’s judicial nominations. The republicans didn’t try to get rid of the filibuster then, because they recognize that it is a valuable tool to get opposing sides to come together to pass important legislation. It would be nice if the media would point this out occasionally.
Probably not going to pass, but the sooner Democrats get this out of the way, the sooner they can get back to doing the more successful stuff: Confirming pro-voting rights judges to lifetime positions in the federal judiciary. Sorry to sound pessimistic, but unless a miracle befalls Manchinema, then changing who runs the courts is our most pragmatic option.
Voting rights must be upheld. I live in the state of Florida. Our governor, Ron De Santis, has now requested that police be present at our election sites. I am appalled by this action. Please make "the bad man" stop! As lawmakers of Florida, I expect you to support the voters in this state. Your constituents are the reason you have your jobs. If you side with this horrible governor, you too will be out of work. D. Bauman
The most important thing is do we support our Republic? Just look around the current United States of America, you see republicans bent on taking away the voting rights of the people in a democratic society. The power hungry republicans are out in the open, yet the local news is not reporting the demise of this Republic. Indiana your elected officials are weak. Catch Me
The right to vote is vitally important for a functioning democracy. Mr. Manchin and Ms. Sinema need to get out from under their corporate donor’s thumbs and actually act like members of the Democratic Party.
Vote No on elimination of the senate filibuster rule. Work for bipartisan agreement on changes to voting rules. Senators Sinema and Manchin have it right. Deliberation and consensus is the way forward as intended by the founders. Partisanship with such a narrow majorities on such a fundamentally component of democracy is an invitation to further division. Senator Cotton’s reading of Senator Schumer’s 2005 speech is the guidance to follow. Put your constituents ahead of political opportunity.
America is now a cult kleptocracy No more a democracy Shame on congress Shame on the judiciary
I want to address something on my mind for a while now… So, trump claims he won the 2020 Presidency. And, he communicates on letterhead of the 45th President; there are those that call him their president. And also, many including current and future congress members are calling to reverse the 2020 election and install trump as president. So let me understand that, presidents in the US can only serve 2 terms… how can trump run again in 2024 in the eyes of those that believe he is the rightful current president or that 2020 belongs to him? So then, by supporting his intention to run in 2024 aren’t these folks actually admitting that he is not the current president? I know that sounds like a bizarre circle of thought, but it is actually what’s going on. So, then why are so many people supporting this??
I’ll make this real short and to the point. Screw the Democrats!!! Anything this batch of lying hypocrites does is detrimental to democracy and to America.
Democrats must lead in changing the tide of autocracy moving like a dark cloud over this country. I support ending the filibuster for voting rights. The Republicans are a party for autocracy. They must be voted out of office to show that the American people will not let our democracy fade away with state by state elections that allow voter suppression.
I’ve been giving this one a Fair amount of thought, and I have decided to flip my view. Part of what informed my old view that I assumed, wrongly, that The filibuster was just some stupid backwater thing that Americans had dreamt up. But I went out and did a little bit of research, and most developed nations in the world have something very similar to our filibuster. Ours is by far the most liberal, and the easiest for lazy politicians to use, but most nations have this concept. The other thing that made me change my mind was to give a little bit of thought into the nature of power. Removing the filibuster gives the party in power more power. So with that power who will find it most useful? Republicans or Democrats? That one’s very easy. Removing the filibuster will do more to help Republicans do evil than it will for Democrats to do good.
This president is the same guy who tried to damage thompas and only a racist idiot would do it
Whatever it takes to get Voting Rights passed and the BBB Plan then do it. It's a sure bet that the fucking Republicans will not support any of these measures as they are intent on destroying this democracy and screwing the average American. So for all you idiots that vote Republican I hope you're prepared to kiss our democracy goodbye if you continue to support the Republicans because we are well on our way to becoming another Nazi Germany.
Democrats support the filibuster when they are in the minority but now want to abolish it. Very unprincipled. This is a checks and balances process that need to stay.