共和党人周二封锁了参议院前进国会民主党人和乔·拜登总统优先考虑的一项名为《为人民服务法案》的全面选举改革法案，他说“这场斗争远未结束。”

民主主义者能够保持统一西弗吉尼亚州参议员乔·曼钦(Joe Manchin)在程序性投票中与他的政党一起投票，就这项措施展开辩论，但他们的50票赞成票比参议院推进立法所需的60票还差10票。

拜登受命推动投票权改革获得通过的副总统卡玛拉•哈里斯以参议院主席的身份主持了会议，并宣布了民主党在选举中以50比50的票数最终获胜。

所有共和党参议员都投了反对票。

紧接着，多数党领袖查克·舒默发言抨击共和党。他说:“参议院共和党人再次与唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)一起在历史账簿上签名，这是一个弥天大谎，压制选民是一种持久的耻辱。”

“我们有几个严肃的选择来重新考虑这个问题，并推进立法来打击选民压制，”舒默继续说。“我们将探索我们的每一个选择。我们必须这么做。投票权太重要了，太基本了。这关系到我们民主的核心，关系到我们作为一个国家的未来，所以我们不会放弃。我们不会让它死去。这种压制选民的行为无法忍受，我们将不懈努力，确保这种行为不会持续下去，”他说。

共和党人指责民主党人公然夺权。

亚历克斯·王/盖蒂影像公司

参议员约翰·巴拉索、参议院少数党党鞭参议员约翰·图恩、参议员里克·斯科特和参议院少数党勒

“这实际上是联邦政府努力接管我们在这个国家进行选举的方式。这是一个寻找问题的解决方案。因此，今天我们将在参议院结束这一切，”麦康奈尔在投票前告诉记者。

但民主党人坚持认为，需要联邦政府对全国14个红色州做出回应，共和党人在这些州颁布了法律。批评者说，这些法律限制了倾向于支持民主党人的少数族裔选民的投票。

“如果我们看到外面的讨论，我们甚至拒绝在这里讨论这个问题，那么在整个国会历史上，我们会是一个什么样的国会?我们是谁，在这种时刻我们该如何隐藏?”参议员Raphael Warnock，D-Ga。，他的同事问道。

“所以我崛起了...对我的同事提出一个简单的要求。让我们做我们的工作。沃诺克在关键投票前在参议院说:“抵制简单的路线，抵制躲在参议院程序后面的诱惑，让我们在美国人民面前就投票权进行有原则的对话。”

曼努埃尔·巴尔奇·塞内塔/美联社

2021年6月22日，华盛顿国会山，参议员乔·曼钦走在参议院地铁附近。

当天早些时候，舒默宣布，他在最后一刻赢得了曼钦的支持，曼钦是他的核心小组中唯一坚持己见的成员，这是一次关键的胜利，尽管投票失败，但他向共和党反对派展示了一个统一的阵线。

“我们明白了，”舒默笑着说，宣布他与曼钦达成的协议，允许他提出一项修正案，对基本改革法案进行修改，前提是民主党多数派能够获得60票，以打破共和党的阻挠，开始就该法案进行辩论。

“我们必须继续工作，”曼钦反对改变参议院的阻挠议事规则，他在当天早些时候告诉美国广播公司新闻国会记者雷切尔·斯科特。

哈里斯后来对记者说，“当我们谈论投票权时，这不是共和党或民主党的问题，而是美国的问题。这是关于美国人民不受约束的投票权。

“战斗还没有结束，”她说。

拜登后来发表声明，痛斥参议院共和党人，并赞扬他的民主党同僚。

“在支持《为人民服务法案》和捍卫选民权利的过程中，他们团结一致支持民主。他们反对正在进行的压制选民的攻击，这代表着21世纪的一个吉姆·克劳时代，”他说。

“不幸的是，民主党保护我们民主的立场遭到了共和党的坚决反对。参议院共和党人甚至反对辩论——甚至考虑——立法保护投票权和我们的民主。

“这是一项旨在结束选民压制的法案的压制——可悲的是，对投票权的另一次攻击并不是前所未有的，”他说。

Senate Republicans block voting rights reform bill despite unified Democratic support

Republicans on Tuesday blocked the Senatefrom moving forwardon a sweeping elections reform bill known as the For The People Act that was a top priority for congressional Democrats and President Joe Biden, who said "this fight is far from over."

Democratswere able to stay unified-- with West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin voting with his party in the procedural vote to open debate on the measure -- but their 50 votes in favor fell 10 short of the 60 needed under Senate rules to advance legislation.

Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Biden has tasked with getting voting rights reform passed, presided in her role as president of the Senate and announced the 50-50 final vote in the Democratic defeat.

All GOP senators voted no.

Immediately afterward, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer took the floor to blast Republicans. "Once again, Senate Republicans have signed their names in the ledger of history alongside Donald Trump, the big lie, and voter suppression to enduring disgrace," he said.

"We have several serious options for how to reconsider this issue and advance legislation to combat voter suppression," Schumer continued. "We are going to explore every last one of our options. We have to. Voting rights are too important too fundamental this concerns the very core of our democracy and what we are about as a nation so we will not let it go. We will not let it die. This voter suppression cannot stand and we are going to work tirelessly to see that it does not stand," he said.

Republicans had accused Democrats of a blatant power grab.

"What this is really about is an effort of the federal government to take over the way we conduct elections in this country. It is a solution in search of a problem. And so finally today we will put an end to it here in the Senate," McConnell told reporters before the vote.

But Democrats insisted that a federal response was needed to the 14 red states across the country where Republicans have enacted laws critics say curb voting of minority voters who tend to support Democrats.

"What kind of Congress would we be in the whole history of Congresses if seeing that discussion out there we refuse to even debate the matter in here? Who are we and how are we to hide in a moment like this?" Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., asked his colleagues.

"So I rise ... with what I think is a simple request to my colleagues. Let's do our job. Resist the easy route, the temptation to hide behind Senate procedure, and let's have a principled conversation in front of the American people about voting rights," Warnock said on the Senate floor before the critical vote.

Earlier in the day, Schumer announced he had won the last-minute support of Manchin, the lone holdout member of his caucus -- a key victory presenting a unified front to GOP opposition despite the failed vote.

"We got it," Schumer said with a grin, announcing the agreement that he reached with Manchin to allow him to offer an amendment to make changes to the basic reform bill should the Democratic majority be able to secure 60 votes to break the GOP filibuster and start debate on the bill.

"We just got to keep working," Manchin, who has opposed changing the Senate's filibuster rule, told ABC News Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott earlier in the day.

Harris, speaking to reporters afterward, said, "when we're talking about the right to vote, it is not a Republican concern or a Democratic concern, it is an American concern. This is about the American people's right to vote, unfettered.

"The fight is not over," she said.

Biden later issued a statement excoriating Senate Republicans and praising his fellow Democrats.

"In supporting the For the People Act and defending the rights of voters, they stood united for democracy. They stood against the ongoing assault of voter suppression that represents a Jim Crow era in the 21st Century," he said.

"Unfortunately, a Democratic stand to protect our democracy met a solid Republican wall of opposition. Senate Republicans opposed even a debate—even considering—legislation to protect the right to vote and our democracy.

"It was the suppression of a bill to end voter suppression—another attack on voting rights that is sadly not unprecedented," he said.