This was a certainty….
No chance of this becoming a bill…
Republicans want LESS voting by Americans….
The vote in the US Senate was actually 50/50….
But the US Senate rules require 60 votes fro major legislation …..
Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked a sweeping bill to overhaul federal elections, ratcheting up already inflamed tensions over voting rights.
Senators voted 50-50 in the evenly divided Senate on advancing the For the People Act, splitting along party lines and failing to get the 60 votes needed to overcome a GOP filibuster.
The vote is the culmination of weeks of partisan rancor and behind-the-scenes talks over changing the nation’s voting laws in the wake of the 2020 presidential election. ..
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Several states — including Georgia, which was won narrowly by President Biden and then delivered the Democrats their Senate majority — have made changes to their voting laws since then, energizing a sharp debate over whether the new rules will limit the votes of Democrats and minority groups and edge them out of being able to control Congress.
Underscoring the political importance of the issue to Democrats, Vice President Harris presided over the hours-long Senate debate and vote.
Republicans railed against the bill ahead of Tuesday’s vote, arguing it was a partisan takeover of federal elections and exactly the sort of legislation meant to be blocked by the Senate’s filibuster.
“The Senate is no obstacle to voting laws done the right way. … The Senate is only an obstacle when the policy is flawed and the process is rotten. And that’s exactly why this body exists,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell(R-Ky.) said.
The ultimate outcome of Tuesday’s vote was never in doubt: Republicans have pledged for weeks that they would prevent Democrats from even bringing their bill up for debate, much less passing it…..
Biden talking positive on Election reform…
Still won’t have the votes….
President Biden said Tuesday that the work to pass an election reform bill is “far from over” and accused Senate Republicans of “attacking” the right to vote by blocking a mammoth bill to overhaul federal elections.
“The creed ‘We Shall Overcome’ is a longtime mainstay of the Civil Rights Movement. By coming together, Democrats took the next step forward in this continuous struggle—not just on Capitol Hill, but across the country—and a step forward to honor all those who came before us, people of all races and ages, who sacrificed and died to protect this sacred right,” Biden said in a statement Tuesday evening.
“I’ll have more to say on this next week. But let me be clear. This fight is far from over—far from over. I’ve been engaged in this work my whole career, and we are going to be ramping up our efforts to overcome again—for the people, for our very democracy,” he continued….
More…
Wow!That was a surprise!