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Senators Kyrsten Sinema, Joe Manchin defend filibuster, likely crushing Biden’s hopes of passing voting rights bill

Mabinty Quarshie and Savannah Behrmann, USA TODAY -- via Yahoo News — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 08:16:33 +0000

WASHINGTON – Democratic Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin doubled down on their opposition to changing the Senate’s filibuster Thursday, likely foiling President Joe Biden’s efforts to pass a voting rights bill.

The Arizona moderate’s position wasn’t different than other times she defended the filibuster, a legislative hurdle that requires 60 votes to start debate on a bill. But her surprise speech on the Senate floor came just before Biden was expected to meet with Democrats on Capitol Hill in an effort to rally his party around changing the Senate’s rules to bypass GOP opposition to the voting rights legislation.

“Eliminating the 60-vote threshold will simply guarantee that we lose a critical tool that we need to safeguard our democracy from threats in the years to come,” Sinema said.

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Sinema said she supports the two pieces of voting rights legislation championed by civil rights advocates but wants more collaboration between Democrats and Republicans to protect voting rights.

“We need a sustained robust effort to defend American democracy, an effort on the part of Democrats, Republicans, independents and all Americans and communities across this country,” she said.

However, Sinema warned the bills are not enough to counteract state laws that restrict voting.

“These bills help treat the symptoms of the disease, but they do not fully address the disease itself,” Sinema said. “And while I continue to support these bills, I will not support separate actions that worsen the underlying disease of division infecting our country.”

Biden says he wants filibuster change: Biden backs filibuster change to pass voting rights in Atlanta speech

As she spoke, several Republican members sat in the chamber, including those in GOP leadership: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D. Thune at one point nodded at what she said and looked over at a group of his GOP colleagues.

“What she was speaking to is kind of what I think the desired state should be here in the Senate, and it’s hard but it’s, it’s doable. If people of good faith can sit down together,” Thune said.

Shortly after Sinema’s speech, Biden attended a Senate Democratic Caucus lunch to discuss the push to pass voting rights and potential changes to the Senate rules.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said Biden told Democrats in the meeting that “the Senate rules are not sacrosanct. The Constitution is. The preservation of democracy is. But the Senate rules have changed often and they’re not sacrosanct.”

After Biden emerged from talks with Senate Democrats, he said he hopes Congress can pass voting legislation but is not sure if it will happen.

“I hope we can get this done. The honest-to-God answer is I don’t know whether we can get this done,” Biden said.

West Virginia Democrat Manchin, a staunch defender of the filibuster alongside Sinema, said Biden gave a “wonderful speech” and said that it was “very historical.”

Despite his comments on Biden, Manchin released a statement hours after the visit stating he will not vote to change filibuster rules.

“As I have said before, I will not vote to eliminate or weaken the filibuster,” Manchin said.

“Ending the filibuster would be the easy way out. I cannot support such a perilous course for the nation when elected leaders are sent to Washington to unite our country by putting politics and party aside,” he added.

That legislation cleared the House Thursday morning and has now been sent to the Senate. Democrats and Biden are pushing lawmakers to make an exception to the chamber’s rules so it can pass the bill without Republican support.

The House passed the bill with two pieces of voting rights legislation – the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act – attached as amendments. This allows Democrats in the Senate to bring the bill to the floor and bypass a GOP filibuster, which requires 60 votes in the 100-member chamber to begin debate.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has said if Republicans do not help them pass the voting rights legislation, the Senate will vote by Martin Luther King Day, on Monday, to change the rules of the Senate regarding the filibuster.

Democrats could change the filibuster without Republicans, but Sens. Manchin and Sinema have stated they do not wish to change the filibuster.

The Freedom to Vote Act would set minimum federal standards on early voting and vote-by-mail options, and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, named after the late civil rights leader and congressman, would restore the Justice Department’s authority to review election law changes in states with a history of discrimination.

Biden’s trip to the Hill came two days after his speech in Atlanta in which he called for altering the Senate’s rules “whichever way they need to be changed” to bypass a Republican filibuster and to make way for the voting rights bills.

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Civil rights leaders called Biden’s speech on voting rights Tuesday a “good step” and “nice words,’’ but said the president didn’t do enough to call out fellow Democrats –including Manchin and Sinema. Some also complained the administration hasn’t outlined an aggressive plan of action.

“We’re looking for specifics,’’ Kendra Cotton, chief operating office of the New Georgia Project, said in a call with reporters Wednesday. “We wanted to hear him clearly articulate and educate.”

Cotton said she appreciated Biden’s history lesson, but she said she heard a lot of wishing.

“Biden’s speech would have been better delivered on the Senate floor and delivered months ago,” said Barbara Arnwine, president of the Transformative Justice Coalition.

In addition to addressing the Democratic Caucus Thursday, Arnwine said Biden should also call and meet individually with senators and not just Manchin and Sinema.

“They’re not the only problems,’’ she said. “That’s not enough … There needs to be an aggressive push that’s worthy of this moment.”

Contributing: Deborah Berry, Courtney Subramanian

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Filibuster: Kyrsten Sinema, Joe Manchin won’t back changes.

Source: https://news.yahoo.com/president-biden-speak-democrats-voting-164404152.html

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The post Senators Kyrsten Sinema, Joe Manchin defend filibuster, likely crushing Biden’s hopes of passing voting rights bill first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Democrats renew court packing calls, blast the Supreme Court’s final two decisions of term

Tyler Olson | Fox News — Fri, 02 Jul 2021 10:52:38 +0000

President Biden accused Supreme Court of doing ‘severe damage’ to voting rights.

Democrats on Thursday expressed their displeasure with the Supreme Court’s final decisions of its 2020-2021 term, accusing the justices of doing “severe damage” to the political system and in some cases re-upping their calls to pack the court with liberal justices appointed by President Biden.

One decision was on a challenge to Arizona election laws, including a ban on ballot harvesting. The other was about a California law that required nonprofits to disclose their largest donors to the state government for law enforcement purposes.

The court upheld the Arizona laws – which liberals saw as voting rights restrictions and conservatives saw as election security measures – and struck down the California law on the grounds that it chilled free speech.

Biden weighed in on the Arizona decision in a statement that was remarkably critical of the Supreme Court for a sitting president.

SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS ARIZONA VOTER FRAUD PROTECTIONS

“I am deeply disappointed in today’s decision by the United States Supreme Court that undercuts the Voting Rights Act,” Biden said. “In a span of just eight years, the Court has now done severe damage to two of the most important provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 – a law that took years of struggle and strife to secure.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the court’s decision in the Arizona case is part of an “unprecedented assault on voting rights” from the court before also tearing into the court over the California case.

“The decision in Americans for Prosperity further harms our democracy by allowing the suffocation of the airwaves caused by big dark special interest money,” Pelosi said. “This torrent of dark money silences the voices of voters and prevents passage of commonsense, bipartisan and popular legislation – from gun violence prevention to climate action to LGBTQ equality. It is fundamentally anti-democratic, and it cannot go unanswered.”

In this April 23, 2021, file photo members of the Supreme Court pose for a group photo at the Supreme Court in Washington. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito wrote the majority opinions for the court’s final two cases of its term. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool, File) (Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

The California case was called Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta, while the Arizona case was titled Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee.

“Having to identify one’s own polling place and then travel there to vote does not exceed the ‘usual burdens of voting,'” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in his opinion upholding the Arizona laws.

SUPREME COURT SAYS CALIFORNIA RULE REQUIRING NONPROFITS TO REVEAL DONOR NAMES IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL

“Our cases have said that disclosure requirements can chill association'[e]ven if there [is] no disclosure to the general public,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion for the California case. “While assurances of confidentiality may reduce the burden of disclosure to the State, they do not eliminate it.”

Some Democrats were even harsher in their responses to the court’s final rulings of its term, lashing with demands to pack the court. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., responded specifically to the Arizona ruling, saying that the alleged reduction of voting rights stemming from the decision should necessitate adding Democrat-appointed justices.

“Today’s ruling is another blow to voting rights. We have no time to waste to protect the right to vote. We must abolish the filibuster and pass the For the People Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Act,” he said. “And we must expand the Supreme Court.”

VIRGINIA TRANSGENDER STUDENT WINS AS SUPREME COURT REBUFFS BATHROOM APPEAL

“And still some people have the nerve to question whether Court expansion is necessary,” Rep. Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y., also said in response to the Thursday rulings.

“Expand the damn court,” he also said.

Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., also tweeted in support of expanding the court. And Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who has resisted calls to pack the court in the past, said he is at least in favor of Democrats getting rid of the legislative filibuster to counteract the Supreme Court’s decision on the Arizona voting laws.

“If Mitch McConnell could abolish the filibuster to appoint 3 extreme right-wing Supreme Court justices who just voted to gut the Voting Rights Act, you know what? Democrats can and should abolish the filibuster to save democracy and make it easier, not harder, for people to vote,” Sanders said.

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Republicans, meanwhile, lauded the Supreme Court for its rulings.

“This is an obvious victory for the First Amendment and for free speech,” Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said of the California case. “California’s anti-speech policies were un-American hogwash, and everyone from conservatives like Americans for Prosperity to liberals like the American Civil Liberties Union came together to oppose this bullying and intimidation.”

“Ballot harvesting—particularly when practiced by political activists—should be illegal,” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said of the Arizona case. “I was proud to join my colleagues in an amicus brief in support of Arizona’s election integrity measures, and I’m glad the Supreme Court has ruled in favor.”

Tyler Olson covers politics for FoxNews.com. You can contact him at tyler.olson@foxnews.com and follow him on Twitter at @TylerOlson1791.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/democrats-blast-supreme-court-final-two-decisions-term-court-packing

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The post Democrats renew court packing calls, blast the Supreme Court’s final two decisions of term first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.