The Senate will take up sweeping voting legislation in June, a politically divisive issue that also is a top Democratic Party priority
WASHINGTON—Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the Senate would take up voting legislation during the last week of its June work period, a major step for a policy opposed by Republicans and one that hasn’t yet drawn the full support of his conference.
Most legislation needs 60 votes to pass the Senate, and Democrats control 50 seats in the evenly divided chamber. In scheduling the vote and others that lack bipartisan support, Mr. Schumer is signaling that he is willing to pivot away from areas that unify the Democratic caucus or have bipartisan support and put the emphasis on more politically challenging measures.
“The next few weeks will be hard and will test our resolve as a Congress and a conference,” he said Friday. The Democrats’ progressive wing has grown increasingly impatient over the lack of action in the Senate, where Mr. Schumer has chosen to devote recent months to bipartisan initiatives, like a water-infrastructure bill that passed nearly unanimously and a measure to help the U.S. maintain its lead in technology.because it was the first bill introduced in the Senate this session, lacks bipartisan support and hasn’t drawn the backing of Sen. Joe Manchin .