本届国会中，参议院首次开始辩论投票权立法周二，在民主党未能实现他们充满希望的、象征性的，截止日期马丁·路德·金日提出的选举改革法案。

周二下午，多数党领袖查克·舒默(Chuck Schumer)就众议院通过的投票权法案展开辩论，该法案是一项综合法案，涵盖了《投票自由法》和《约翰·刘易斯投票权推进法》。

但是民主党需要60票，或者10名共和党参议员的支持——他们没有——加上他们自己的全部50票，才能克服共和党在立法上的阻挠，结束辩论，为法案的最终通过让路。所有50个参议院共和党人人都反对这项法案。

“美国人民有权看到他们的参议员公开表明他们将支持还是反对这些法案。事实上，这可能是在这个问题上取得进展的唯一途径，”舒默周二表示。“如果共和党人选择继续阻挠投票权立法，我们必须考虑并投票决定规则的改变，这些改变对于恢复参议院和使投票立法成为可能是适当和必要的。”

手头的法案将使选举日成为联邦假日，扩大提前投票和邮寄投票，并给予联邦政府对州选举更大的监督。据美国媒体报道，2020年大选后，近20个州因虚假主张而限制投票布伦南正义中心。

舒默引用已故民权领袖马丁·路德·金博士的话，承认民主党要通过投票权立法“有一场艰苦的斗争”，但他表示，面对本周不可避免的失败，他们应该“继续前进，继续战斗”。

“无论输赢，本会议厅的成员都是被选举出来进行辩论和投票的，尤其是在投票权这个对我们民主的心脏如此重要的问题上。公众有权知道每位参议员在捍卫我们的民主这样神圣不可侵犯的问题上的立场。”

他还抓住焦点抨击共和党人去年继续阻止民主党人通过立法，并在参议院向美国人民发表讲话，称共和党“倒退了”

“共和党曾经是一个支持投票权的政党。里根总统、老布什总统和小布什总统努力更新投票权法案，”舒默说。“现在，可悲的是，不幸的是，这是唐纳德·特朗普的共和党。”

美国广播公司新闻

1月18日，参议员米奇·麦康奈尔在国会大厦参议院大厅发表讲话...

周二，麦康奈尔首先代表共和党发言，抨击他的同事在过道对面将参议院阻挠议事描述为“吉姆·克劳遗迹”，而民主党人辩称，共和党人正在将这种程序策略武器化，以阻止联邦投票保护主要针对少数族裔。

麦康奈尔说:“这是关于一个政党想要单方面重写美国选举规则手册的权力。

他补充说:“自2019年以来，民主党人一直在用同样的‘小鸡’言论推动同样的政策变化。"这位民主党领袖打破参议院的努力早在最新的借口之前就已经存在了。"

“我们中间太多的同事仍然希望以打破规则的夺权来回应50-50的参议院。那些投票推翻这个机构的人不会是自由投票或无害的行动，即使努力失败了，”麦康奈尔继续说道。“无原则的夺权企图并不是因为失败就无害的。投票推翻参议院不是没有成本的，只是因为你的两党多数同事有智慧阻止你。”

为了单干，舒默表示，他将采取行动，以简单多数票挑战众议院的阻挠议事规则，助手们表示，规则修改提案最早将于周三出台。舒默周二还就该法案提交了议案，为本周晚些时候的阻挠议事投票设定了60票的门槛。

目前还不清楚民主党人打算如何改变阻挠议事规则。舒默周二没有详细说明当共和党人按照预期阻止投票权法案时，他对阻挠议事的可能变化有什么计划。

参议院民主党人定于周二晚上开会，预计周三将进行投票，试图改变阻挠议事规则。

弗吉尼亚州参议员蒂姆·凯恩是投票权谈判的主要谈判者。，上周告诉美国广播公司新闻，这可能相当于一次性改变规则，或雕刻出来，通过降低门槛，以结束辩论的立法从60票到51票。理论上，副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯作为参议院议长，可以作为民主党人打破僵局的一票——既可以平息阻挠议事，最终也可以通过投票权法案。

民主党人考虑的另一个选择是回到一个会说话的阻挠议事程序，这将需要41个法案的反对者继续在地板上说话，称为“保持地板”，以测试反对派的耐力。如果他们失去了动力，将会有51票的要求来通过这个一度被阻挠的法案。

参议员乔·曼钦周二晚上明确表示，他仍然反对改变阻挠议事规则来通过投票权。

当被问及改变规则时，曼钦说:“我不知道你是如何打破规则制定规则的。

曼钦否决了一项可能的“谈话式阻挠议事”提议，即一旦辩论结束，参议员将在议会上以简单多数票通过立法进行辩论。

然而，当天晚上晚些时候，舒默宣布，他的党团将寻求用一种“会说话的阻挠方式”来取代目前的60票门槛

民主党人需要整个党团的支持来改变他们在议会中的统治，因为他们在议会中拥有微弱的多数。保守的民主党参议员曼钦和基斯顿·西内马已经明确表示反对改变阻挠议事的方式，尽管两人都支持基本立法，因此这一努力预计将会失败——随着乔·拜登总统周四即将上任一年，这对民主党来说是一个巨大的打击。

周一，在国会山附近的示威活动中，马丁·路德·金13岁的孙女约兰达·雷尼·金(Yolanda Renee King)直呼曼钦和西内马的名字，活动人士走上街头，要求以这位已故民权领袖的名义在全国范围内采取行动。

“辛尼马参议员，曼钦参议员，我们的未来取决于你们的决定，历史会记住你们做出的选择，”她喊道。“所以，和我一起要求为今天、明天和未来几代人采取行动。”

拜登上周二在佐治亚州成为全国焦点，要求参议院改变其规则，“以任何需要改变的方式，防止少数参议员阻止投票权的行动”，之后他在白宫私下会见了西内马和曼钦。上周四，当他前往国会会见议员时，西内马惊人地走上参议院，重申她反对总统刚刚公开呼吁的内容。

与此同时，共和党人辩称，拜登在攻击共和党方面走得太远，将他们对该法案的阻挠与吉姆·克劳时代的种族主义联系在一起，少数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)在参议院抨击拜登的讲话“深刻地、深刻地非总统化”，是“语无伦次、不正确的，有失他的身份”的“咆哮”

随着活动人士继续推动联邦行动，犹他州共和党参议员米特·罗姆尼周末表示，白宫从未联系过他，试图为通过投票权立法争取支持。

“可悲的是，总统一直在推动的这项选举改革法案，我从未接到白宫的电话。没有谈判，共和党和民主党聚集在一起，试图提出符合两党利益的东西，”他周日在美国全国广播公司的“会见媒体”节目中说。

 

梅根·瓦尔纳/盖蒂图像，文件

乔·拜登总统在亚特兰大大学发表关于投票权立法的讲话..

随着参议院最终在周二开始行使投票权，根据他的日程安排，总统将不会露面，而是在白宫听取简报。

拜登定于周三举行新闻发布会，这是他上任第一年的前一天，届时他可能会面临投票权等未完成议程项目的问题。

Senate begins debate on voting rights ahead of filibuster showdown

For the first time this Congress, the Senate started debatingvoting rights legislationon Tuesday, a day after Democrats failed to meet their hopeful, symbolic,deadline to passan election reform bill by Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer opened debate on the House-passed voting rights bill, a combination bill wrapping in both the Freedom to Vote Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, on Tuesday afternoon.

But Democrats need 60 votes, or the support of 10 Republican senators -- which they don't have -- plus all 50 of their own, to overcome a GOP filibuster on the legislation and end debate, making way for the bill's final passage. All 50 Senate Republicans are opposed to the bill.

"The American people deserve to see their senators go on record on whether they will support these bills or oppose them. Indeed, that may be the only way to make progress on this issue," Schumer said on Tuesday. "And if Republicans choose to continue to filibuster voting rights legislation, we must consider and vote on rule changes that are appropriate and necessary to restore the Senate and make voting legislation possible."

The bill at hand would make Election Day a federal holiday, expand early voting and mail-in-voting, and give the federal government greater oversight over state elections. And would come at a time when nearly 20 states have restricted access to voting fueled by false claims in the wake of the 2020 election, according to theBrennan Center for Justice.

Quoting the late civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Schumer acknowledged that Democrats have "an uphill struggle" to pass voting rights legislation but said they should "keep moving, keep fighting" in the face of the inevitable defeat this week.

"Win, lose, or draw -- members of this chamber were elected to debate and to vote, especially on an issue this vital to the beating heart of our democracy as voting rights. And the public -- the public is entitled to know where each senator stands on an issue so sacrosanct as defending our democracy."

He also seized the spotlight to slam Republicans for continuing to block Democrats from passing the legislation last year, and addressing the American people from the Senate floor, said the GOP has "regressed."

"The Republican Party used to be one that supported voting rights. Presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush worked to renew voting rights bills," Schumer said. "Now, sadly, unfortunately, this is Donald Trump's Republican Party."

McConnell, on Tuesday, speaking first for Republicans, slammed his colleagues across the aisle for characterizing the Senate filibuster as a "Jim Crow relic" while, Democrats argue, the procedural tactic is being weaponized by Republicans to prevent federal voting protections largely to minorities.

"This is about one party wanting the power to unilaterally rewrite the rulebook of American elections," McConnell said.

"Democrats have been pushing the same policy changes in the same Chicken Little rhetoric since 2019," he added. "The Democratic leader's effort to break the Senate long predates the latest pretext."

"Too many of our colleagues across the aisle still want to respond to a 50-50 Senate with a rule-breaking power grab. Those voting to break this institution will not be a free vote or a harmless action, even if efforts fail," McConnell continued. "An unprincipled attempt at grabbing power is not harmless just because it fails. Voting to break the Senate is not cost-free, just because of a bipartisan majority of your colleagues have the wisdom to stop you."

To go it alone, Schumer said he will move to challenge the chamber's filibuster rule with a simple majority vote, and aides say that rules-change proposal will come as early as Wednesday. Schumer on Tuesday also filed cloture on the bill, setting up the 60-vote threshold filibuster vote for later this week.

It's still unclear exactly how Democrats intend to change the filibuster rule. Schumer didn't lay out specifics Tuesday on what his plans are on possible changes to the filibuster when Republicans block the voting rights bill as they're expected to do.

Senate Democrats are scheduled to meet Tuesday evening ahead of an expected vote Wednesday to try to change the filibuster rule.

Sen Tim Kaine, D-Va., a key negotiator in voting rights talks., told ABC News last week that it will likely amount to a one-time change to the rule, or carveout, by lowering the threshold to end debate on the legislation from 60 votes to 51 votes. In theory, Vice President Kamala Harris, as president of the Senate, could serve as Democrats' tie-breaking vote -- both to quash the filibuster and, eventually, pass the voting rights bill.

Another option Democrats have looked into is reverting back to a talking filibuster, which would require 41 opponents of the bill to keep talking on the floor -- called "holding the floor" -- to test the opposition's stamina. If they run out of steam, there would be a 51-vote requirement for passage of the once-filibustered bill.

Sen. Joe Manchin made it clear Tuesday evening that he remains opposed to changing the filibuster rule to pass voting rights.

"I don't know how you break a rule to make a rule," Manchin said when asked about changing the rules.

Manchin shot down a possible "talking filibuster" proposal that would see senators debating legislation on the floor with a simple majority vote passing legislation once debate has concluded.

Later in the evening, however, Schumer announced his caucus will seek to replace the current 60-vote threshold with a "talking filibuster."

Democrats need the support of their entire caucus to change the rule in the chamber where they hold the slimmest of majorities. And conservative Democratic Sens. Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have made clear their opposition to changing the filibuster, even though both support the underlying legislation, so the effort is expected to fail -- a massive blow to Democrats as President Joe Biden approaches one year in office on Thursday.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s 13-year-old granddaughter, Yolanda Renee King, called out Manchin and Sinema by name in demonstrations near Capitol Hill on Monday as activists took the street to demand action in the name of the late civil rights leader being honored across the nation.

"Sen. Sinema, Sen. Manchin, our future hinges on your decision, and history will remember what choice you make," she called out. "So join me in demanding action for today, tomorrow and generations to come."

After Biden took the national spotlight last Tuesday in Georgia to demand the Senate change its rules "whichever way they need to be changed to prevent a minority of senators from blocking actions on voting rights," he met with Sinema and Manchin privately at the White House. As he headed to the Hill last Thursday to meet with lawmakers, Sinema stunningly took to the Senate floor and reiterated her opposition to what the president had just publicly called for.

Republicans, meanwhile, have argued Biden went too far in his attacks on the GOP, tying their obstruction on the bill to Jim Crow-era racism, with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell slamming Biden's speech from the Senate chamber as "profoundly, profoundly un-presidential" and as a "rant" that was "incoherent, incorrect and beneath his office."

As activists continue to push for federal action, Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said over the weekend he was never contacted by the White House to try and gain support for passing voting rights legislation.

"Sadly, this election reform bill that the president has been pushing, I never got a call on that from the White House. There was no negotiation, bringing the Republicans and Democrats together to try to come up with something that would meet bipartisan interest," he told NBC's "Meet The Press" on Sunday.

With the Senate finally taking up voting rights Tuesday, the president is scheduled to remain out of sight, according to his schedule, but at the White House for briefings.

Biden is scheduled to hold a news conference on Wednesday, one day before marking his first year in office, where he'll likely face questions on the issue of voting rights -- among other unfinished agenda items.