Chuck Schumer Lays Out Plan for Votes on Elections Bills

Democratic Party is making big push on voting-rights agenda but lacks needed GOP support for passage

The plan from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) doesn’t sidestep any hurdles to passage of the bills.

By Siobhan Hughes, WSJ, January 12-13

WASHINGTON—Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) laid out a legislative maneuver that allows the Senate to begin debate on Democrats’ elections legislation this week, even as a path to final passage remains elusive.

His plan, outlined in a memo to colleagues, doesn’t sidestep the main hurdles to passage of the bills, which would still remain subject to the 60-vote filibuster threshold for most legislation in the 50-50 Senate. But it does advance the bills to floor debate, a preliminary step that had been repeatedly blocked last year because of strong Republican opposition.

Mr. Schumer has previously set a Jan. 17 deadline for the Senate to take action on the election legislation before turning to possible Senate rules changes. Some Democrats have floated eliminating the 60-vote threshold altogether or exempting voting-related legislation from the rule, while others have proposed different measures.

Democrats would need 50 votes to change the Senate filibuster, with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking a tie, but two Democratic senators, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, have declined to support proposals to carve out a filibuster exception for voting rights.

Party leaders have struggled to line up the support within their caucus to rewrite the Senate’s rules to muscle through elections legislation. After meeting early Wednesday with other Democrats in Mr. Schumer’s offices, Mr. Manchin emerged to say that there was still no agreement. President Biden is to meet behind closed doors with Senate Democrats on Thursday.

“I wish we were closer, how’s that?” said Sen. Jon Tester (D., Mont.). “We’re not to a point where we’re ready for prime time.”

Democrats say new federal voting laws are needed to counter recent measures passed in GOP-led states, which party lawmakers paint as a threat to access to the polls, particularly for minority voters. Republicans call Democrats’ proposals federal overreach and undercutting states’ attempts to bolster election integrity.

On Tuesday, Mr. Biden put the weight of his office into the drive to pass voting legislation, calling for making an exception to the filibuster for voting legislation if needed. He compared lawmakers standing in the way of the bills to segregationists and Confederates, saying at one point: “Do you want to be on the side of Abraham Lincoln or Jefferson Davis?”

That approach drew an angry response from Republicans.

“In less than a year, restoring the soul of America has become this: Agree with me or you’re a bigot,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) of Mr. Biden’s rhetoric. “He compared a bipartisan majority of senators to literal traitors. How profoundly, profoundly unpresidential,” he said.

(President Biden on Tuesday [January 11] spoke in Atlanta to support changing Senate filibuster rules as he sought passage of federal voting laws that have been repeatedly blocked by Republicans.

Asked about Mr. Biden’s speech, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D., Ill.) said the president was on solid ground in drawing parallels between past efforts to block Black citizens from voting and current changes to voting laws in GOP-run states. “Perhaps the president went a little too far in his rhetoric,” he said on CNN, adding, “But the fundamental principles and values at stake are very, very similar.”)

In his memo, Mr. Schumer said that the two primary Democratic bills—“The Freedom to Vote Act” and a separate measure named for the late civil-rights leader Rep. John Lewis —would be combined into a single measure and routed through the House in a procedural maneuver. He didn’t set dates for the votes, but an aide said they would happen in coming days.

Under congressional procedures, a bill that has been amended in the House and sent back to the Senate is known as a “message.” It enjoys a privileged status in that the Senate can’t debate whether to proceed to the legislation; bringing such a measure to the Senate floor requires a simple up-or-down vote on whether to proceed. Last year, Senate Republicans denied Democrats the 60 votes for a motion to proceed to any of the legislation.

As soon as Wednesday [January 12], the House Rules Committee plans to meet to consider amending such a “shell” bill with the contents of the two Democratic voting bills. Once the House takes up and passes the modified legislation, it would be sent to the Senate as a “message.”

“The Senate will then be able to debate voting rights legislation for the first time this Congress,” Mr. Schumer wrote to colleagues. He also acknowledged the steep pathway to passage.

The Freedom to Vote Act would make Election Day a national holiday, mandate 15 days of early voting and require all states to allow mail-in voting, among other changes. The other would give the federal government more control over state voting procedures, after Supreme Court rulings weakened the 1965 Voting Rights Act that gave Washington control over changes to rules in states with a history of racial discrimination.