Senators will spend the day debating the combined Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which the House approved last week, and arguing over the very nature of the Senate as they clash over the rights of the minority to thwart legislation, and whether the filibuster, a storied Senate tool for asserting them, needs to be weakened. Though Democratic leadership brought up the legislation on Tuesday using a procedural shortcut that avoided an initial Republican blockade, Democrats were far short of the votes needed to win its passage over unified Republican opposition, and lacked the votes needed in their own party to change Senate rules and enact it unilaterally. Still, they announced that they would mount a long-shot effort to establish an exception to the filibuster for voting rights bills, requiring opponents to hold the floor for an old-style “talking filibuster” that would allow a final, 51-senator majority vote, instead of the 60 now needed, to move forward after all senators had exhausted their opportunities to speak.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) proposed to the Senate Democratic Conference on Tuesday evening that they will employ a “talking filibuster” and in recent days, members have rallied around the idea, which would require a simple majority to advance any bill toward final passage following extended debate. However, as expected, Senator Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) and Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-Arizona) made it clear that they will not support any weakening of the filibuster, leaving Democrats empty-handed legislatively. The bill Democrats will bring forward at 6:30 P.M. will include both the Freedom to Vote Act with the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. After that, Democrats are expected to force a vote on changing the filibuster, which requires 60 votes for most bills to advance.
The House convened at 10:00 A.M. and is expected to consider three bills under suspension of the Rules, including Senate Amendment to H.R. 1192 – Puerto Rico Recovery Accuracy in Disclosures Act of 2021 which requires professionals employed in debt adjustment cases involving Puerto Rico to file verified statements disclosing their connections with the debtor, creditors, and other interested parties before seeking compensation for their services.
While all this plays out, marking a year into his presidency, President Joe Biden will hold a 4 p.m. news conference which will be just his second on U.S. soil and his sixth overall. The White House has not said how long Wednesday’s news conference will last. Biden is expected to get a range of questions on difficult topics: the coronavirus pandemic now stretching into its third year, a potential Russian incursion into Ukraine, rising inflation, a social spending plan that has stalled in Congress, and a new push for voting rights that would require a filibuster revamp to pass.
Adam S. Olsen, Washington, D.C.
