Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced late Thursday that the Senate would not reconvene until Jan. 18, scrapping his own deadline to force a vote on changing the legislative filibuster.
“Due to circumstances regarding COVID and another potentially hazardous winter storm approaching the DC area this weekend, the Senate will adjourn tonight. However, we will be postponing the recess so the Senate can vote on voting rights,” Schumer said. “We will return on Tuesday to take up the House-passed message containing voting rights legislation.”
The majority leader then insisted that if Senate Republicans “choose obstruction over protecting the sacred right to vote,” there would be a vote on altering or removing the filibuster.AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana However, there is no guarantee any such vote would actually take place. Given Manchin and Sinema’s firm opposition to any rule tweaks, Senate Democratic leadership may have to be content with a lengthy, bruising debate over sweeping election reform legislation backed by the White House and progressive activists.Democrats were dealt another setback Thursday when Sen. Brian Schatz announced that he had tested positive for COVID-19 earlier in the week.
“These [election] bills help the symptoms of the disease, but they do not fully address the disease itself,” she 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.” President Biden, who supported the filibuster for nearly two decades, has recently urged his party to get rid of or alter the rule in order to pass the
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