华盛顿——周五，国会民主党高层在白宫与乔·拜登总统挤在一起，希望挽救他们制定联邦投票立法的努力，该立法可能会对抗限制投票的州法律。
拜登、副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯、众议院议长南希·佩洛西和参议院多数党领袖查克·舒默之间的会晤是在民主党人被迫重新起草他们的签名投票法案之后进行的，该法案名为《为了人民法案》，参议院共和党人上个月以阻挠议事的方式阻止了该法案。
据一名不愿透露姓名的国会高级助手透露，自那以后，他们一直在努力重组该提议，并前往白宫向拜登提交一个框架。
但几乎没有迹象表明，即使是一项经过改写的提案，也将赢得共和党的支持，这是根据目前的参议院规则通过该提案所必需的。这使得民主党陷入僵局，在一个对党内许多人来说高度优先的问题上几乎没有选择。
白宫在会后发表声明称，拜登和其他民主党高层认识到“未来的挑战”，但“同意通过投票立法的道德必要性”，并将“继续为实现这一目标而共同努力。”
民主党人对该法案的修改最早可能在下周公布。根据民主党国会助手的说法，新法案预计将采纳西弗吉尼亚州民主党温和派参议员乔·曼钦(Joe Manchin)寻求的许多变化，他最初反对这项措施。
拜登和国会领导人还讨论了一项即将提出的单独法案，该法案将恢复具有里程碑意义的1965年《投票权法案》的关键部分，该法案于2013年被最高法院废除。
佩洛西周五在新闻发布会上说:“这是我们的最高优先事项，是投票的神圣性。
民主党人认为，这些法案是他们削弱共和党控制的各州今年以共和党名义通过的限制性投票法的影响的最佳机会选举保安。前总统唐纳德·特朗普谎称2020年选举被盗，推动了共和党的努力。
然而，尽管在投票立法方面进行了大量工作，民主党人仍然面临着和以前一样的挑战:共和党领导的参议院50比50的阻挠议案，需要10张共和党选票才能克服。共和党人反对这两项投票法案，参议院少数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔抨击说，这是“不必要的”过度行为，会侵犯各州进行选举的权力。
克服这样的障碍将需要改变程序规则，许多温和的民主党人反对，拒绝进行改变所需的投票。
尽管如此，该党领导人表示，他们打算努力向前推进。舒默曾表示，他可以在参议院提出更多投票权法案。
明尼苏达州参议员艾米·克洛布查尔(Amy Klobuchar)曾在参议院帮助指导《为人民法案》，她乐观地表示，支持可能会改变阻挠议事的规则。她指出，曼钦过去支持阻挠议事的改革，包括要求参议员拥有发言权并发言以阻止法案。
“我认为我们已经取得了实际进展。克洛布查尔周四说，如果我们只是说‘不，因为参议院的规定，我们不能这么做’，我们就不会继续下去。
助手们周二聚集在一起，讨论最初的提议和曼钦缩减的大纲之间的差异。最初的提议是一项涉及投票法以及道德和竞选财务规则的全面法案。随后，舒默办公室周三举行了一次会议，与会者包括曼钦、克洛布查尔、佐治亚州参议员拉斐尔·沃诺克和俄勒冈州参议员杰夫·默克莱，他是参议院版本法案的作者。加州参议员亚历克斯·帕迪拉也出席了会议。
尽管即将出台的法案的细节尚未公布，但大体上已经达成一致的框架将会更为集中。据这位助手称，预计这将遏制各州不公正地划分国会选区的能力，限制投票，并限制被称为“黑钱”的难以追踪的选举支出流。
佩洛西表示，它还将解决共和党各州通过的新法律，这些法律使选举管理更具党派色彩。民主党人认为，这些努力可能会让共和党人更容易忽视计票结果，推翻选举结果。
曼钦周五表示，该法案应该缩小到“让选举变得容易、公平和安全”的内容
一个大问题是，修订后的法案是否会包括投票时出示身份证照片的要求，共和党人在这个问题上对民主党人进行了猛烈抨击。
许多民主党人反对选民身份法，最初的法案会限制严格的选民身份标准。但曼钦表示，他倾向于制定某种形式的全国选民身份法，包括要求选民可以出示公用事业法案或其他身份文件来投票。
另外，民主党人预计最早将于下周公布约翰·刘易斯投票权推进法案。
他们举行了一系列马拉松式的低调现场听证会，为该法案的投票做准备，该法案旨在为该措施建立一个理论基础，以帮助其抵御法庭挑战。
该法案将允许司法部再次监督对少数族裔有选举歧视历史的地方投票规则的修改，这种被称为“预先审查”的做法被最高法院在2013年搁置。
佩洛西认识到法庭挑战的不可避免性，他说民主党人正在寻求“宪法上的铁定”
Pelosi, Schumer huddle with Biden on voting legislation
WASHINGTON -- Top congressional Democrats huddled with President Joe Biden at the White House on Friday, looking to salvage their effort to enact federal voting legislation that could counter state laws restricting access to the ballot.
The meeting between Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer comes after Democrats were forced back to the drawing board with their signature voting bill, called the For the People Act, which Senate Republicans blocked with a filibuster last month.
Since then, they've worked on retooling the proposal and went to the White House to present a framework to Biden, according to a senior congressional aide who discussed the private deliberations on condition of anonymity.
But there's little sign even a rewritten proposal will win the GOP support necessary to pass under current Senate rules. That's left Democrats stalled out and with few options on an issue of high priority to many in the party.
The White House released a statement after the meeting stating that Biden and the other top Democrats recognize “the challenges ahead" but “agreed on the moral imperative” of passing voting legislation and “will continue working together toward that goal.”
The alterations that Democrats are making to the bill could be unveiled as early as next week. The new bill is expected to adopt many of the changes sought by moderate Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, who initially objected to the measure, according to the Democratic congressional aide.
Biden and congressional leaders also discussed a separate bill that will soon be proposed that would restore key portions of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 that were gutted by the Supreme Court in 2013.
“This is of the highest priority for us, the sanctity of the vote,” Pelosi said Friday at a news conference.
Democrats view the bills as their best chance to blunt the impact of a wave of restrictive voting laws adopted in Republican-controlled states this year in the name ofelectionsecurity. The GOP push was fueled by former President Donald Trump's false claims of a stolen 2020 election.
Yet despite the flurry of work on voting legislation, Democrats still face the same challenge as before: a Republican-led filibuster in a 50-50 Senate that would require 10 GOP votes to overcome. Republicans oppose both voting bills, which Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has blasted as "unnecessary" overreach that would infringe on states' authority to conduct elections.
Overcoming such an obstacle would require changing procedural rules, which many moderate Democrats oppose, denying the votes needed to make the change.
Still, party leaders say they intend to try to move forward. And Schumer has said that he could call more voting rights bills to the Senate floor.
Minnesota Sen Amy Klobuchar, who has helped guide the For the People Act in the Senate, voiced optimism that support could build to alter filibuster rules. She noted Manchin has endorsed filibuster changes in the past, including a requirement that senators hold the floor and speak to block a bill.
“I think that we’ve made actual progress. If we were just going to say, ‘Nope, can’t do this because of Senate rules,’ we wouldn’t keep going,” Klobuchar said Thursday.
Aides gathered Tuesday to hash out differences between the original proposal, a sweeping bill that addressed voting law, as well as ethics and campaign finance rules, and Manchin's scaled-back outline. That was followed by a meeting Wednesday in Schumer's office that included Manchin, Klobuchar, Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock and Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, who is the author of the Senate version of the bill. California Sen. Alex Padilla was also present.
Although specifics of the upcoming bill have not been released, the framework that has been largely agreed to will be narrower in focus. It is expected to curb the ability of states to gerrymander congressional districts, target voting restrictions and crimp the untraceable stream of elections spending known as “dark money," according to the aide.
Pelosi has said it will also address the new laws adopted in GOP states that make the administration of elections more partisan. Democrats believe those efforts could make it easier for Republicans to discount vote tallies and overturn election results.
Manchin said Friday that the bill should be narrowed down to things that "make elections accessible, fair and secure.”
One big question is whether a revised bill will include a photo ID requirement to vote, an issue Republicans have bludgeoned Democrats over.
Many Democrats oppose voter ID laws and the initial bill would have curbed strict voter ID standards. But Manchin has said he favors having some form of national voter ID law, including a requirement that voters could show a utility bill or another identifying document to vote.
Separately, Democrats are expected to unveil the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act as early as next week.
They've held a marathon series of low-key field hearings to prepare for votes on the bill that were intended to build a rationale for the measure that could help it withstand a court challenge.
The bill would allow the Department of Justice to once again police changes to voting rules in places with a history of electoral discrimination against minorities, a practice known as “preclearance” that the Supreme Court put on hold in 2013.
Recognizing the inevitability of a court challenge, Pelosi said Democrats were looking to make it “ironclad constitutionally."
