Biden mobilizes to protect minority voting rights

The President of the United States and Harris travel to Atlanta to promote a major electoral reform in the conservative states of the South

In an unprecedented speech in Atlanta, Georgia, President Joe Biden announced Tuesday his intention to end Senate filibuster to facilitate passage of federal law guaranteeing the right to vote for minorities in conservative states in the United States. south. "History will judge us," he declared, describing the measure as defining for the political future of the country and assuring that it will mark a turning point between the prevalence of democracy and justice over autocracy and injustice. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris held a private meeting with Martin Luther King III, the son of the legendary civil rights leader, after an official visit to his father's grave.

In the days leading up to the trip to the state, the administration has tried to smooth out friction with influential political activists in Georgia, following last week's ultimatum in which they threatened not to attend Biden's speech without a plan from the White House. to pass voting rights legislation. Georgia leaders, exasperated by the lack of action, considered it a "waste of time" to attend the president and vice president's speech when Democrats do not have the necessary votes (51) to pass the bill in the Senate. Calling "no celebration without representation", the coalition of the most important Georgian voting rights organizations said they saw no merit in attending the event just to take a picture.

In response to questions from the press about whether he felt insulted by the absence of the voting rights leader and candidate for governor of Georgia, Stacey Abrams, Biden said he had spoken by phone with the assemblywoman in the morning and ruled out that there were differences Between both. The president attributed his absence to a confusion between the teams that make the calendars for both.

The measure, widely debated and increasingly backed by civil rights activists, will give Democrats the momentum they need to bring long-stalled election bills to a vote in Congress. A decision of incalculable importance that represents a change in the rules of the political game and that, if approved, would be the legislative key that would allow the Biden Administration to straighten out the national electoral system with federal laws. The speech in Atlanta was designed to mobilize support for legislation whose approval still hangs in the balance.

republican obstructionism

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer does not appear to have the votes needed to amend the filibuster before Monday, a date he has set as a deadline to coincide with the national observance of Martin Luther King Day.

The Senate rule change, which would require a vote of all 50 Democratic senators plus Vice President Harris, faces uncertainty over the stance of centrist Democrats Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, who have so far resisted the move. amendment.

Manchin has indicated he wants bipartisan support for any changes to filibuster, which Republicans have used repeatedly to block voting rights bills. In a tail-biting whiting, the Democrats can't pass the amendment without Manchin's support In the Republican bloc, united in an opposition front to amend filibuster, it seems unlikely to attract at least one vote in favor of the amendment.