All nine Republicans on the Senate Committee on Rules & Administration today voted against an amendment to add Georgia U.S. Senators Jon Ossoff’s and Raphael Warnock’s Voters’ Access to Water Act to the For the People Act (H.R. 1/S. 1)––a critical package of anti-corruption, voting, and ethics reforms that would end dark money, ban partisan gerrymandering, protect our freedom to vote, and stop billionaires from buying elections.
The amendment would have prohibited states such as Georgia from criminalizing volunteers and organizations from handing out water and refreshments to voters standing in line. Voter suppression bills in Georgia and Florida, recently signed into law, included provisions that make it illegal for certain people to give water to voters who may be waiting in line for hours to cast their ballot. The laws have been criticized publicly by a growing number of businesses and are facing several court challenges.
“The fact Republicans would vote against giving a bottle of water to someone waiting in line to vote is all of the evidence you need to know that they are operating in bad faith,” said End Citizens United // Let America Vote Action Fund President Tiffany Muller. “This is nothing more than a blatant attempt to stop certain people from voting and we must protect everyone’s freedom to vote equally in all 50 states.”
The For the People Act passed the House in March and will soon be brought up for a vote in the Senate. The bill is a top priority for the Biden Administration as well as the Democratic-controlled Congress, with Majority Leader Schumer reminding the Senate that “failure is not an option” when it comes to protecting our democracy, and President Biden calling for Congress to send the bill to his desk “right away.”
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