First modification:
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, for the first time supported changing the rules of the Senate with the aim of curbing the increasing restrictions on the right to vote in several states. For the US president, it is about choosing “democracy over autocracy.”
It was a crucial speech for the Democrats. US President Joe Biden was on Tuesday, January 11, in the city of Atlanta, in the state of Georgia, where he said he was “tired of being silent” about the electoral rules in the United States.
“Today I make it clear that, to protect our democracy, I support changing the Senate rules, in whatever way they have to be changed, to prevent a minority of senators from blocking measures on the right to vote,” Biden said.
When it comes to protecting majority rule in America, a majority should rule in the United States Senate.
To protect our democracy, I support changing the Senate rules to prevent a minority of Senators from blocking action on voting rights.
– President Biden (@POTUS) January 11, 2022
For the first time, the president clearly supported the idea of several Democratic senators to make a change in the rules of the United States Senate to implement laws around electoral processes, especially after Republican supporters of Donald Trump seek to promote measures that they change the right to vote in several states.
Biden denounced that these measures seek to make it difficult to vote in the electoral processes in the country and, potentially, turn around a result that does not favor them in the legislative elections of this year and the presidential elections of 2024. The fear is still especially alive after the Trump’s allegations that he lost the 2020 presidential elections due to electoral fraud, allegations that many of his political followers and citizens still maintain.
Filibustering as a maneuver to block US legislation
To counter these Republican maneuvers, the Democratic Party has tried to push through two federal bills that would counteract the effect of these state measures. They are the so-called “Voting Freedom Act” and the “John Lewis Voting Rights Promotion Act.”
However, none of these projects have succeeded thanks to “filibustering” or parliamentary obstructionism, which requires a majority of 60 votes in the Senate for the proposals to reach debate and approval.
At this time, the Democrats hold a minimal majority in the chamber since they control only 50 seats, but they do not have enough power to open the debate around their proposals.
Biden, who spent 36 years in the Senate, long supported this technique, but has become more open to changing it as Republicans blocked several of his major initiatives over the past year. Now, he supports the idea of eliminating that obstruction to approve electoral reforms but keeping it for any other topic of debate.
The current Democratic Leader wants power so badly he’s willing to misrepresent his own late predecessor if it helps him get it. Senator Byrd went out of his way to argue against rule-breaking power grabs and protect the Senate’s most central feature, the legislative filibuster. pic.twitter.com/L1m800JJW7
– Leader McConnell (@LeaderMcConnell) January 11, 2022
This blocking strategy used to be used only exceptionally: between 1969 and 1970 it was only invoked six times. However, the growing polarization in the United States has caused it to become a tool to use to block any initiative that does not please one of the two banks. Between 2019 and 2020, there were 298 such votes.
Lack of unity among Democrats?
For the end of the filibuster on electoral debates to prosper, the lines of the Democratic Party must be unshakable. President Biden’s accolade is a victory for supporters of this strategy, but it might not be enough.
There are two Democratic senators, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, centrist politicians within the party, who are still not convinced. Your green light will be essential for the Senate rules to change.
Despite these doubts, the Democratic leader in the Upper House, Chuck Schumer, said he hopes to schedule a vote on the electoral reforms this Wednesday. But if Republicans block the process, Schumer plans to start a debate on the rule change before January 17.
To this, the Republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, responded by saying that Democrats are trying to use “false hysteria” about state voting restrictions to “amass more power.”
With Reuters, EFE and local media
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