Biden voices uncertainty about passing voting rights bills after meeting with Democrats

[Jim Taylor]

Your buddy Obama helped kill the bills, you fool.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday expressed uncertainty
over whether his party would be able to pass voting rights
legislation through Congress after he emerged from a closed-door
luncheon with Senate Democrats.

Despite his attempt at making a direct appeal to Democrats, Biden
appeared less confident than before about overcoming the hurdles of
getting the measures approved.

"I hope we can get this done, but I'm not sure," Biden told
reporters on Capitol Hill following the meeting. "The honest to god
answer is, I don’t know whether we can get this done."



His remarks came a few hours after Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz.,
made clear that she won't vote to gut the filibuster rule to ease
passage of the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights
Advancement Act.

Sinema said she supports the two bills but continues to favor the
60-vote rule, which Democrats have no hope of clearing due to
overwhelming Republican opposition to the bills. Her remarks
signaled that the aggressive efforts to persuade her to change
Senate rules have failed.

"There's no need for me to restate my longstanding support for the
60-vote threshold to pass legislation," Sinema said on the Senate
floor in a speech about "the disease of division" in the United
States. "It is the view I continue to hold."

Sinema's position means the two voting bills have no viable path to
passage.

Biden met behind closed doors with Senate Democrats during their
regular caucus lunch. White House press secretary Jen Psaki told
reporters Wednesday that the president would “make the strong case”
to lawmakers that he made publicly in his speech in Atlanta, in
which he called for an end to the filibuster to allow for passage of
federal voting rights bills.

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will also both be “working
the phones” to put pressure on reluctant lawmakers, Psaki said.

Prior to Biden's arrival Thursday, the House voted 220-203 along
party lines to pass the two voting rights bills in one package. The
Senate will receive it as a “message,” enabling Democrats to open
debate on the package with a simple majority, without Republican
votes.


Democrats have been discussing a rule change in the Senate that
would allow them to circumvent a GOP blockade of the bills. But that
would require unanimous support in the caucus.


Manchin and Sinema met with Biden at the White House on Thursday
evening for a little more than an hour. In a statement after the
meeting, a White House official said they had "a candid and
respectful exchange of views about voting rights."

Shortly after that meeting, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer,
D-N.Y., abruptly announced that the Senate would adjourn and return
Tuesday to debate voting rights legislation. He cited the winter
storm forecast to hit the Washington area this weekend and
unspecified "circumstances regarding Covid."

Earlier in the day, Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said he had tested
positive for Covid and was isolating at home. Without him or a GOP
absence, Democrats would not have the numbers to bring the voting
rights bills to the floor over united GOP opposition.

The delay means Schumer will not meet his goal of holding a vote on
the legislation by Martin Luther King Jr. Day, on Monday.

If Republicans filibuster the legislation, Schumer said Thursday
night, Democrats will “consider and vote on changing Senate rules”
to enable passage of the bills by a majority vote.

In a post on Medium Wednesday, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., a member
of Democratic leadership, stressed that her party shouldn’t let the
filibuster stop them from passing historic reforms.


In an op-ed for USA Today, former President Barack Obama wrote that
the filibuster has no basis in the Constitution and has in recent
years become a “routine way” for the Senate minority to block
progress on issues supported by a majority of voters.

“We can’t allow it to be used to block efforts to protect our
democracy. That’s why I fully support President Joe Biden’s call to
modify Senate rules as necessary to make sure pending voting rights
legislation gets called for a vote,” he wrote.

The Freedom to Vote Act would create a set of standards for federal
elections to ensure that voters have similar access to the ballot
box nationwide. It would require states to offer a minimum number of
days for early voting and the ability to vote by mail for any
reason. It would also make Election Day a national holiday.

The bill named after the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., would update
the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a landmark legislation that barred
discriminatory election laws.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/biden-make-direct-appeal-
senate-democrats-pass-voting-rights-legislation-n1287407