‘Tired of being quiet!’ – Orange County Register

By ALEXANDRA JAFFE, COLLEEN LONG and JEFF AMY

ATLANTA (AP) – High-five for emphasis, President Joe Biden on Tuesday challenged senators to “fight voter suppression” by changing Senate rules to pass voting rights legislation. votes that Republicans are preventing debate and voting.

Biden told an Atlanta crowd gathered on the campuses of Morehouse College and Clark Atlanta University that he had had quiet conversations with senators for months about the two bills — a lack of progress. led to him being criticized by activists in his own party.

“I’m tired of being quiet!” he shouted to cheers from the crowd.

In his remarks, Biden cited the civil rights wars of the 1960s. He likened past mistakes to modern-day efforts to overthrow elections through riots on Capitol Hill. a year ago and a series of GOP-backed legislation passed in the wake of former President Donald Trump’s death in 2020 and subsequently falsely claimed widespread voter fraud. Biden has chastised Republicans for being behind Trump’s election lies.

“Today, we call on Congress to accomplish what history will judge,” Biden said. “Passing the right to freedom of voting action.”

Biden’s speech was strong, blunt, and clear, referring to new efforts to restrict voting access called “Jim Crow 2.0.” For the first time, he directly advocated the removal of the Senate’s vote-blocking device known as the filter for debate and voting on electoral law and voting rights. While his focus draws more national attention to the debate ahead, it’s unclear what impact his newly formed flame will have.

The current rules require 60 votes to advance most legislation — a threshold that Senate Democrats cannot meet alone as they have only a 50-50 majority with Vice President Kamala Harris to break the relationship. Republicans unanimously opposed the voting rights measures.

Nor were there enough Democratic votes to change the Senate rule. West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin poured cold water on the idea Tuesday, saying he believes any changes should be made with substantial Republican buying. And there aren’t any Republican senators willing to sign on.

“No Republican has shown the courage to stand up to a defeated president to defend the right of Americans to vote,” Biden said. “Not one. Not one.”

Congressional Democrats wrote voting legislation that would usher in the biggest overhaul of US elections in a generation by reducing barriers to voting enacted on behalf of the United States. election security. The act would also reduce the influence of big money in politics and limit partisan influence in attracting congressional districts.

This package will create national election standards that outperform state-level GOP legislation. It would also restore the Justice Department’s ability to enforce police election laws in states with a history of discrimination.

Republicans say the changes are not meant to be fair, but to give Democrats an edge in the elections.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky accused Biden of invoking “the brutal racial hatred of the Jim Crow Division to smear the states’ new voting laws.”

And it comes from “a sitting president of the United States who has pledged to bring the temperature down and unite America,” McConnell said.

Even if Democrats resolve obstacles to passing the law, it may be too late to fight the voting restrictions passed in 19 states after Trump’s death in 2020 and his lies. – accepted by many in the GOP – that the election was stolen through voter fraud.

Suffrage advocates in Georgia and across the country are increasingly worried about what could happen in 2022 and beyond. They see the changes in many states as a more sophisticated form of vote restriction such as literacy tests and a poll tax once used to disenfranchise Black voters, an area important election of the Democratic Party.

“This is important to all of us,” Biden insisted. “The goal of the former president and his allies is to disenfranchise anyone who votes against him, as simple as that.”

The president has spent decades in the Senate and he says with regret how much it has changed for the worse, calling it “a shell of what it used to be.” He spoke of an era not so long ago when an issue like voting rights would never have been of such intense partisan interest.

He recalled working with separationist lawmakers in the Senate to get the legislation passed and then it would be signed into law by Republican presidents. But now, the filter has been used frequently to prevent debate over certain laws.

“How do you want to be remembered?” he asked his former congressional colleagues.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., has set Martin Luther King Jr. Day. next Monday as the deadline to pass legislation to vote or consider amending the rules. Biden told his audience, “The next few days, when these bills are put to a vote, will mark a turning point in the history of this nation.”

“Should we choose democracy over autocracy, light over darkness, justice over injustice? I know where I stand. I won’t give in. I will not flinch,” he declared. “I will defend our right to vote, our democracy, against all foreign, yes, and domestic enemies. The question is where will the institution of the US Senate stand? ”

Biden also visited Atlanta’s historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, where the late Father Martin Luther King Jr. stood in front of the podium. He stood quietly as Martin Luther King III laid a wreath outside the crypt of King and his wife, Coretta Scott King.

Some voting rights advocates boycotted Mr Biden’s speech out of frustration with Washington’s actions. Georgia Democratic unification candidate Stacey Abrams, known for her tireless work in defending the right to vote, said she skipped the event because of scheduling conflicts and she gave no further explanation.

King said in a statement that he was happy to host Biden, but he also supported those who chose to skip the speech.

“We’ve seen what can happen when President Biden uses the full weight of his office to provide bridges,” he said, referring to Biden’s successful push for a spending deal. $1 trillion worth of infrastructure spending. “And now we need to see him do the same for voting rights.”

The Republicans behind Trump’s election misinformation are pushing their own efforts to influence future elections by installing sympathetic leaders in electoral positions. local election and support for the electorate of some of those who participated in the riots at the United States Capitol.

Vice President Kamala Harris spoke to Biden on Tuesday, warning that banning the new state laws meant “the risk of becoming used to these laws, the risk of having to tweak these laws as if they are normal”.

“There is nothing out of the ordinary about the law that makes it illegal to give water or food to people standing in long lines to vote,” she said, cheering.

Georgia is at the center of it all, one of the key battleground states in the 2020 election. After the votes were counted and recounted, Trump told the state’s top election official he wanted the official. This “find” enough votes to overturn his defeat. However, the state votes went to Biden, and both seats in the Senate went to Democrats.

Last year, the state’s Republican governor signed a sweeping rewrite of the election rules that, among other things, give the State Elections Commission new powers to interfere with county elections offices. and remove and replace local election officials. That has led to concerns that the Republican-controlled state board could exert more influence over the administration of elections, including certifying county results.

___

Amy reports from Atlanta. AP Congressional reporters Lisa Mascaro and Brian Slodysko contributed to this report.