House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn says President Joe Biden “should endorse” the idea of creating a carveout to the legislative filibuster in the Senate for legislation that applies to the Constitution
Rep. James Clyburn speaks during a House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 19, 2021. | Stefani Reynolds/The New York Times via APAfter months of setbacks and gridlock on voting rights, one of President Joe Biden’s top allies in Congress is calling for him to support amending the Senate filibuster.
Clyburn’s comments are the latest attempt by senior Democrats to find a way around Republican opposition to their election reform legislation. Biden himself is set to embark on a more aggressive campaign to try and move public opinion behind those bills. He is headed to Philadelphia on Tuesday to deliver a speech on his administration’s “actions to protect the sacred, constitutional right to vote,” the White House said.
Anxiety and frustration around the failure to move voting rights legislation are not just building among progressive activists but among civil rights advocates and Democratic lawmakers as well. Democrats who spoke to POLITICO said they believed failure on this front would result not only in electoral losses but would have a tangible impact on the country’s democracy if more Republican-led states pass restrictions on voting access.
Democrats’ signature election reform bill would expand early voting, ban partisan gerrymandering, among other changes that touch nearly every aspect of the election system. The second bill, named after the late Rep. John Lewis would restore key sections of the 1965 landmark Voting Rights Act, which mandated jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination get pre-approval for election law changes from the federal government.
A White House official said Biden is actively pushing for the two pieces of legislation and has deployed multiple agencies, the White House legislative team, and senior staff to lobby for passage. On Thursday, Vice President Kamala Harris announced the Democratic National Committee would invest $25 million to register, educate and turn out voters.
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