President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in Atlanta.
Photo: EPA / ERIK S. LESSER / EFE
In the Senate, if any of the members of that chamber wants to indefinitely delay the discussion of a reform, they can adhere to the so-called ‘filibuster’ or filibusterism, which allows you to present arguments for hours and even days, that is, an “unlimited” debate.
With a minority of just 50 senators –vulled by Senator Joe Manchin (West Virginia) -, Democrats seek to eliminate that figure in order to pass electoral laws on the way to the process in November this year.
“The Senate tradition of unlimited debate has allowed the use of the filibuster … to prolong debate and delay or prevent a vote on a bill, resolution, amendment or other debatable issue,” explains the Senate on its rules.
He adds that before 1917, the Senate rules did not provide a way to end the debate, but then a first was imposed in that year, which was replaced by another in 1975, so that 60 votes were enough to end with a discussion considered obstructionist.
Because a simple majority is required to approve ending filibustering, both Democrats and Republicans have made adjustments to approve reforms or nominations without the need for 60 votes, as the then majority leader did in 2017, Mitch McConnell (Kentucky), allowing Republicans to approve Supreme Court nominees with fewer than 60 votes.
“We have pushed through the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act numerous times here in plenary, only for the Republicans to obstruct them and prevent the chamber from even having a debate,” charged the current majority leader Chuck Schumer (New York).
At the end of last year, in effect, the Republicans refused to approve opening the debate on both reforms, but now even the president Joe Biden – who knows well the processes for having been a senator – has joined the voices to advance with the laws.
Senator Manchin is the main obstacle for Democrats They can move forward with their plan, although it is not yet clear how the filibustering would end.
“We need some good rule changes to make the place work better, but getting rid of the obstructionism does not make it work better,” Manchin said Tuesday.
Biden criticizes obstruction of the vote
Although he has consistently supported the approval of electoral laws, on Tuesday President Biden expressed in Atlanta the need to end filibustering.
“Today I make it clear that to protect our democracy, I support changing Senate rules in any way necessary to prevent a minority of senators from blocking action on voting rights“Said the president. “When it comes to protecting majority rule in the United States, the majority should rule in the United States Senate.”
He defended his position when he considered that he had made a “careful deliberation”, focused on defending the fundamental right to vote.
President Biden came to Atlanta in the company of the Vice President Kamala Harris, who also urged the approval of electoral laws, amid an increase in regulations considered obstructive of the vote in states governed by Republicans.
“Anti-voting laws are not new to our nation, but we must not be fooled into thinking that they are normal. We should not be fooled into thinking that a law that makes it difficult for students to vote is normal, ”Harris said. “We must not fool ourselves into thinking that a law that makes it illegal to help a voter with a disability to vote by mail is normal.”
President Biden referenced the 2020 election and, without referring to him by name, he spoke of the attempts of his then opponent, the former president Donald Trump, of winning the election.
“‘Look for the votes,'” Biden recalled that Trump ordered. “He did not say count the votes, but search.”
The Democratic president criticized Republicans and their intentions to restrict voting, but those who vote against them.
“They will just decide what they want and then they will. That is the kind of power you see in totalitarian states, not democracies, ”he warned.
Biden and Harris’ visit to Atlanta and their speech on the right to vote occurs before Martin Luther King Jr.Day.
Republicans for revenge
The minority leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell said that ending filibustering would go against democracy, silencing “millions of voices“, Forgetting that he himself has adhered to this legislative dynamic. He feigned retaliation.
“We will make their voices (of Republican voters) heard in this chamber in ways that are more inconvenient to the majority (Democrats) and to this White House than anyone can remember,” he said.
The measure that the Democrats are seeking is considered “a nuclear action”, so McConnell referred to a “post-nuclear” era.
What would a post-nuclear Senate look like? I assure you that it would not be more efficient or more productive. I personally guarantee it ”, he sentenced.
eldiariony.com
Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.