XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.usa.constitution, alt.politics.trump   
   XPost: alt.feminism.d, talk.politics.guns, sac.politics   
   From: noreply@mixmin.net   
      
   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   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)