Republicans in the US Senate on Tuesday halted progress on a major voting rights bill.
The Senate’s top Democrat, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, set a procedural vote for the For the People Act, but 60 votes were needed to advance the bill to debate and Republicans in an equally divided 100-member chamber. Opposed the measure, the bill stalled.
Lindsey Graham, a prominent Republican from South Carolina, called the measure “a crazy idea” in a statement issued shortly after she voted not to vote.
Graham said, “Simply put, this is the biggest power grab in modern American history. S.1 has nothing to do with easing voting – skewing the system in a fashion to benefit the liberal agenda.” It has everything to do with doing.”
Simply put, it is the largest power grab in modern American history. S.1 has nothing to do with easing voting – it has everything to do with skewing the system in a fashion to benefit the liberal agenda. I did not vote enthusiastically.
— lindsey graham (@lindseygrahamsc) June 22, 2021
Democrats plan to push for a revised version, led by Senator Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democratic centrist, who declared opposition to the legislation approved by the House of Representatives. His proposed changes include adding a national voter ID requirement and cutting a public campaign funding provision from the original version.
“I have found common ground with my Democratic colleagues on a new version of the bill that ensures our elections are fair, accessible and safe,” Manchin said.
But his change to the measure has garnered no Republican support.
The Democratic push for election reform comes as Republican-controlled legislatures in several states implement new restrictions after the 2020 election, with former President Donald Trump repeatedly making false claims of election fraud.
The original Senate bill, which passed the Democrat-majority House in March, would make it easier for people to register to vote, requiring states to have at least 15 days of early voting, requiring people to cast absentee ballots without giving a reason. and put the rescheduling of Congressional districts in the hands of nonpartisan commissions and not state legislatures.
Schumer said that voting rights are “under attack from one end of the country to the other,” and that Republican-led efforts in various states are an attempt to give Republicans “a partisan advantage in elections”, making it Gets tough for Democrats. – Motivating voters to vote.”
