参议院民主党人周三开始推进一项全面的投票权法案，就他们的“重中之重”立法召开听证会，尽管共和党人试图将该法案视为民主党的夺权。

《为人民服务法》旨在进行重大选举改革，降低投票障碍，包括自动选民登记，要求在选举日进行选民登记，以及改革不公平选区划分和竞选金融法。

参议院多数党领袖查克·舒默(Chuck Schumer)已经承诺在参议院进行投票，并于周三罕见地在委员会露面，敦促参议院迅速采取行动。今年早些时候，众议院以党派立场通过了该法案的一个版本。

他说，《为人民服务法案》旨在打击的一些州法律“有点像吉姆·克劳再次抬起丑陋的头”，并认为这是参议院需要采取行动的主要原因。

舒默说:“如果我们不阻止这些邪恶的、经常带有种族主义色彩的行为，第三世界的专制将会出现。”。

民主党人认为，随着全国各州议会考虑限制投票的立法，通过投票保护的紧迫性越来越大。

分析选举规则的无党派独立组织布伦南正义中心(Brennan Center for Justice)发现，截至上个月，州议员已经提交了253项法案，其中规定限制43个州的投票权限。

“我想问问我的共和党同事，你们为什么这么害怕民主?”舒默说。“为什么，你不是试图赢得上次选举中落败的选民，而是试图阻止他们投票?”

但共和党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)也出席了周三的听证会，他对自己反对该法案一直没有道歉。他周三预测，如果进行投票，他的整个会议都会反对。

共和党人对这份近800页的立法有几个问题，包括扩大投票权将在未来的选举中损害他们的政党。

他们声称，民主党人正在利用他们在参议院的微弱多数通过一些措施，使他们更容易继续掌权，并指出一些语言将改变联邦选举委员会的组成，使其成为一个更具党派性的机构，以及一些将权力从各州转移到其他州的措施。

“这是一个寻找问题的解决方案，”麦康奈尔说。“各州没有试图压制选民。这显然是一个政党试图改写我们政治制度的规则。”

J.斯科特·阿普尔怀特/美联社

参议院少数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔就“为了人民法案”发表讲话，该法案将会扩大

投票权法案上近乎党派的分歧可能会迅速加剧正在进行的参议院阻挠议案的辩论。目前，除了西弗吉尼亚民主党人乔·曼钦之外，几乎所有在众议院的民主党人都支持投票权法案。但参议院目前需要60票才能结束辩论并通过立法，这意味着民主党需要至少10名共和党人的支持，才能在参议院以50比50的比例推进法案。

许多民主党人担心阻挠议事可能会阻碍投票权和移民改革等主要议程项目，他们向民主党人施压，要求他们利用多数席位来消除阻挠议事或改变规则。

目前，民主党可能会在众议院获得微弱的多数票，但他们仍将达不到克服立法阻挠所需的60票。

几个月来，民主党人一直在呼吁推翻60票的门槛，他们指出选举权法案对有色人种社区是多么重要，这是否决阻挠议案的一个主要原因。

但麦康奈尔驳斥了支持阻挠议事是民权问题的说法。阻挠议事是民主党在共和党占多数时使用的一种工具。

“为什么去年不是为了他们，现在突然变成了民权问题?”麦康奈尔周二表示。“恕我直言，这是胡说八道。这是夺权。这一切都是为了接管美国的选举制度。”

麦康奈尔认为，该法案要求的联邦规则的迅速实施将在2022年的选举中造成“混乱”。

排名成员罗伊布朗特，R-Mo。，同意了。他说联邦政府接管选举系统将是一场“彻头彻尾的灾难”。

“如果这项立法得以实施，混乱将在下次选举中占据主导地位，选民对选举完整性的信心将不如现在。”

共和党人的一个主要担忧是，语言将要求各州自动注册获得驾照的个人投票，除非他们选择退出。尽管该法案仍然要求选民登记时提供公民身份证明，但得克萨斯州共和党人特德·克鲁兹表示，他担心自动选民登记可能会导致登记的无证人员涌入。

克鲁兹还对该法案中让一些被监禁者更容易投票的措辞提出异议。克鲁兹说，这些措施表明，该法案的真正目的是“让民主党执政100年”。

克鲁兹说:“显然，民主党已经决定，如果数百万非法外国人投票，如果数百万罪犯投票，这将有利于民主党，因为他们明白罪犯和非法外国人更有可能投票给民主党。”

但该法案的发起人、俄勒冈州民主党人杰夫·默克莱(Jeff Merkley)指出，密歇根州等州已经实施了自动投票。密歇根州国务卿Jocelyn Benson周三告诉委员会，密歇根州去年成功地自动登记了25万名新选民，没有未经授权的个人登记的问题。

“这似乎正是本届国会应该捍卫并确保在全国范围内发生的事情，”默克莱说。

未来可能会有更多的党派斗争，但委员会主席艾米·克洛布查尔(Amy Klobuchar)表示，民主党将不懈努力推进该法案。

克洛布查尔说:“人民法案的核心是三个简单的想法:让投票变得更容易，从政治中获得大笔资金，以及加强道德规则。”。“这些都不是激进的提议。这些想法几乎是这个国家每个人都认同的。”

Senate Democrats move forward with voting rights bill despite Republican opposition

Senate Democrats Wednesday began their march forward on a sweeping voting rights bill, convening a hearing on their "top priority" legislation despite Republican efforts to cast the bill as a Democratic power grab.

The For the People Act aims to make major election reforms that lower barriers to voting, including automatic voter registration, requiring voter registration on the day of an election and reforms to gerrymandering and campaign finance laws.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has already committed to bringing the bill, a version of which passed the House along partisan lines earlier this year, to a vote on the Senate floor and made a rare committee appearance Wednesday urging the Senate to act swiftly.

He said some of the state laws that the For the People Act aims to beat back "smack of Jim Crow rearing its ugly head once again" and argued that was a primary reason that the Senate needs to act.

"If we don't stop these vicious and often racist actions, third world autocracy will be on its way," Schumer said.

Democrats have argued there is an increased urgency to passing voting protections as statehouses across the country consider legislation that would restrict access to the polls.

The Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan, independent organization that analyzes election rules, found that state lawmakers had filed 253 bills with provisions that restrict voting access in 43 states as of last month.

"I would like to ask my Republican colleagues, why are you so afraid of Democracy?" Schumer said. "Why, instead of trying to win over voters that you lost in the last election are you trying to prevent them from voting?"

But Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who was also present at Wednesday hearing, has been unapologetic about his opposition to the bill. He predicted Wednesday that his entire conference would oppose it if it came to a vote.

Republicans take several issues with the nearly 800-page piece of legislation, including that expanding voting rights will hurt their party in future elections.

They claim that Democrats are seizing on their slim Senate majority to pass measures that would make it easier for them to remain in power and point to language that would change the composition of the Federal Election Commission to make it a more partisan body, as well as measures that would take power to run elections away from states.

"This is a solution in search of problem," McConnell said. "States are not engaging in trying to suppress voters whatsoever. This is clearly an effort by one party to rewrite the rules of our political system."

The near-even partisan split on the voting rights bill could rapidly escalate the ongoing debate over the Senate filibuster. As it stands, nearly every Democrat in the chamber, except for West Virginian Democrat Joe Manchin, supports the voting rights bill. But 60 votes are currently needed in the Senate to end debate and pass legislation, meaning Democrats need support from at least 10 Republicans to advance bills through the 50-50 Senate.

Many Democrats, worried that the filibuster could hold up major agenda items such as voting rights and immigration reform, have pressured Democrats to use their majority to eliminate the filibuster or alter the rules.

As it stands, Democrats may eke out a slim majority of total votes in the chamber, but they would still fall short of the 60 votes necessary to overcome the legislative filibuster.

Democrats have been ratcheting up calls to overturn the 60-vote-threshold for months, and they've pointed to how imperative the voting rights bill is for communities of color as one major reason it may be time to nix the filibuster.

But McConnell has refuted claims that upholding the filibuster -- a tool Democrats used when Republicans were in the majority -- is a matter of civil rights.

"Why is it all of a sudden a civil rights issue when it wasn't for them last year?" McConnell said Tuesday. "With all do respect, this is nonsense. This is a power grab. This is all about taking over the American election system."

McConnell has argued that the speedy implementation of those federal rules required by the bill would create "chaos" in the 2022 election.

Ranking Member Roy Blunt, R-Mo., agreed. He said a federal takeover of the election systems would be an "unmitigated disaster."

"Should this legislation be enacted chaos will reign in the next election and voters will have less faith in the integrity of their elections than they currently do."

A principal concern for Republicans is language that would require states to automatically register individuals who receive a drivers license to vote unless they opt out. Though the bill would still require proof of citizenship for voter enrollment, Texas Republican Ted Cruz said he was concerned automatic voter registration might lead to an influx of registered undocumented people.

Cruz also took issue with language in the bill that makes it easier for some incarcerated people to vote. These measures, Cruz said, show that the real the aim of the bill is "keeping Democrats in power for 100 years."

"Apparently the Democrats have determined that if millions of illegal aliens get to vote, if millions of criminals get to vote, that that will benefit Democrats because they understand that criminals and illegal aliens are much, much more likely to vote for Democrats,” Cruz said.

But Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat who is the sponsor of the bill, pointed to the success of states like Michigan that have already implemented automatic voting. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson told the committee Wednesday that Michigan successfully automatically enrolled 250,000 new voters last year and had no issues with unauthorized individuals becoming registered.

"That seems like exactly what this Congress should be defending and making sure happens across the country," Merkley said.

There's likely much more partisan fighting ahead, but Committee Chairwoman Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said Democrats will work tirelessly to advance the bill.

"At its core the for the people act is about three simple ideas: making voting easier, getting big money out of politics and strengthening ethics rules," Klobuchar said. "These are not radical proposals. These are ideas that nearly everyone in this country agrees with."