Yesterday in Selma, AL, President Biden commemorated the legacy of those who marched on the Edmund Pettus Bridge 58 years ago advocating for the freedom to vote by calling on Congress to pass major voting rights legislation.
During his “Bloody Sunday” speech, President Biden called for an expansion of voting rights, highlighting the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act.
“But we know that we must get the votes in Congress to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act,” Biden said. “I made it clear I will not let a filibuster obstruct the sacred right to vote.”
In the 2022 midterms, voters rejected MAGA extremism, centered on election denialism and attacks on our freedoms such as the freedom to vote and reproductive freedom. In post-election polling, voters named democracy as the top issue when asked what issues were extremely important when making their decision to vote.
The Washington Post: In Selma, Biden stresses voting rights in face of divided Congress
Matt Viser
03/05/23
Key points:
- Standing near the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where on March 7, 1965, marchers advocating for voting rights were attacked by police in a day that has become known as “Bloody Sunday,” Biden said that the right to vote “was under assault” by a conservative Supreme Court, a host of state legislatures and those who continue to deny the 2020 presidential election results.
- The president and other leaders have pushed for legislation named after Lewis that would reauthorize parts of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that were struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013. The House passed a bill in 2021, but the measure failed to get a vote in the Senate.
- It has been a place where others — including Biden himself — have come and called for a renewed fight for voting rights, pushing for more early voting or combating voter ID laws and other barriers that have been introduced since the 2020 election, particularly in states with GOP-controlled legislatures.
- “After a deadly insurrection on January the sixth, we must remain vigilant,” he said. He referenced some of the legislation he has pushed, and executive orders he has signed. “But we know that we must get the votes in Congress to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act,” he said. “I made it clear I will not let a filibuster obstruct the sacred right to vote.”
- He later did push for changes to the Senate rules to pass voting rights legislation — and he turned up the rhetorical heat by suggesting those standing in the way of the legislation were aligned with racist policies and politicians. But the legislation, which passed the House, never passed the Senate.
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