President Biden once said the filibuster was an important part of the legislative process. Now, he's urging changes to get legislation passed. How far will his words go in convincing Senate Democrats? Can he change the future of our election laws?
For almost a year, voting rights advocates have called on President Biden to make expanded voting rights legislation his top agenda item. Biden has said overhauling the country’s election laws is one his biggest priorities.
But, like other major parts of his agenda, the path forward has to go through the Senate, where Republicans have vowed to block changes to elections laws.
Senate Democrats, meanwhile, don’t have enough votes to pass the legislation on their own. They could change Senate rules and pass it with their slim majority — in other words, they could get rid of the filibuster. But Democrats are still pretty divided on whether to do so.
This week, Biden, for the first time, took a strong stance on where Democrats should go from here.
“Today I’m making it clear. To protect our democracy, I support changing the Senate rules, whichever way they need to be changed to prevent a minority of senators from blocking action on voting rights,” Biden said in a speech Tuesday in Atlanta.
He also criticized the institution where he’d spent most of his career. “Sadly, the United States Senate — designed to be the world’s greatest deliberative body — has been rendered a shell of its former self,” Biden said. “It gives me no satisfaction in saying that, as an institutionalist, as a man who was honored to serve in the Senate.”
The same president who once said the filibuster was an important part of the legislative process, is now urging the Senate to change rules to pass voting rights legislation. But how far will his words go in convincing Senate Democrats? And what does it mean for the fate of our country’s election laws?
On this episode of the “Can He Do That?” podcast, White House reporter Cleve Wootson explains what’s in the proposed voting rights bills, how advocates have reacted to Biden’s latest calls for action and what is likely to happen next.
President Biden once said the filibuster was an important part of the legislative process. Now, he's urging changes to get legislation passed. How far will his words go in convincing Senate Democrats? Can he change the future of our election laws?
For almost a year, voting rights advocates have called on President Biden to make expanded voting rights legislation his top agenda item. Biden has said overhauling the country’s election laws is one his biggest priorities.
But, like other major parts of his agenda, the path forward has to go through the Senate, where Republicans have vowed to block changes to elections laws.
Senate Democrats, meanwhile, don’t have enough votes to pass the legislation on their own. They could change Senate rules and pass it with their slim majority — in other words, they could get rid of the filibuster. But Democrats are still pretty divided on whether to do so.
This week, Biden, for the first time, took a strong stance on where Democrats should go from here.
“Today I’m making it clear. To protect our democracy, I support changing the Senate rules, whichever way they need to be changed to prevent a minority of senators from blocking action on voting rights,” Biden said in a speech Tuesday in Atlanta.
He also criticized the institution where he’d spent most of his career. “Sadly, the United States Senate — designed to be the world’s greatest deliberative body — has been rendered a shell of its former self,” Biden said. “It gives me no satisfaction in saying that, as an institutionalist, as a man who was honored to serve in the Senate.”
The same president who once said the filibuster was an important part of the legislative process, is now urging the Senate to change rules to pass voting rights legislation. But how far will his words go in convincing Senate Democrats? And what does it mean for the fate of our country’s election laws?
On this episode of the “Can He Do That?” podcast, White House reporter Cleve Wootson explains what’s in the proposed voting rights bills, how advocates have reacted to Biden’s latest calls for action and what is likely to happen next.
On Jan. 5, 2021, Rep. Jamie Raskin buried his only son. The next day he witnessed firsthand the attack on the Capitol. As we mark a year since the insurrection, we look at how Raskin dealt with his son’s death while serving on democracy’s front lines.
After one year in office — with the country still facing several historic crises, simultaneously — Washington Post reporters set out to answer this question: What has Biden done about the four crises he pledged to address?