XPost: alt.politics.democrats.senate, rec.outdoors.rv-travel   
   From: covid@cowards.com   
      
   WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Monday renewed his calls for passing   
   voting rights legislation at a breakfast honoring Martin Luther King Jr.   
   Day, a day before the Senate is expected to begin a contentious debate   
   over the two bills.   
      
   "On this federal holiday that honors him, it's not just enough to praise   
   him. We must commit to his unfinished work to deliver jobs and justice, to   
   protect the sacred right to vote," Biden said in recorded remarks to the   
   National Action Network's annual breakfast honoring the late civil rights   
   icon.   
      
   "The attack on our democracy is real, from the January 6th insurrection to   
   the onslaught of Republicans' anti-voting laws in a number of states," he   
   said. "It's no longer about who doesn't get to vote. It's about whether   
   your vote counts at all. It's about two insidious things, voter   
   suppression and election subversion."   
      
   The White House has pressed Congress to pass two major pieces of   
   legislation, the Freedom To Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights   
   Advancement Act, which aim to broaden access to the ballot box, raise the   
   bar for states with a recent history of discrimination to change voting   
   laws and protect election officials from undue partisan influence.   
      
   The bills passed the House in one package last week and have majority   
   support in the Senate. But they have no path to 60 votes to break a   
   filibuster in the 50-50 Senate, with Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska being   
   the only Republican to support the John Lewis bill and no Republicans   
   supporting the second bill. Democrats also don't have the 50 votes needed   
   to change the rules to carve out a filibuster exception for voting rights,   
   with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.,   
   supportive of the 60-vote rule.   
      
   The Senate hopes to begin debating the election bills on Tuesday, but it   
   is not expected to vote before Wednesday, a Democratic leadership aide   
   said, suggesting that debate may commence with unanimous consent.   
      
   After the debate begins, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.,   
   will eventually make a motion to end debate, which will set up a 60-vote   
   threshold vote to move to a final vote. That's where Republicans are   
   expected to execute a filibuster to block the legislation. Once that   
   happens, Schumer has said the Senate will then consider rules changes, but   
   he has not said which rules they will consider changing.   
      
   Despite the likely failure, Democratic leaders intend to hold a vote on   
   some form of a filibuster change.   
      
   https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/biden-mlk-day-voting-rights-   
   n1287594?icid=recommended   
      
   Democrats hate America.   
      
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