1/ Biden endorsed “getting rid of the filibuster” in order to pass voting rights legislation. With less than 10 months until the 2022 midterms, Biden said “this is the moment to defend our democracy” and that the repeated obstruction of election reform by Senate Republicans had left Democrats with “no option but to change the Senate rules […] to prevent a minority of senators from blocking action on voting rights.” In his remarks, Biden cited the Jan. 6 insurrection, characterizing the “violent mob” of Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol to try to stop Biden’s electoral college win as an “attempted coup.” He added that the only way to protect the right to vote and ensure election security was to pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. “Pass it now,” Biden said. “I am tired of being quiet.” Changing the Senate rules, however, would require the support of all 50 Democrats and the vote of Kamala Harris to break a tie. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, meanwhile, have expressed strong public opposition to changing filibuster rules, and several other Democrats, including Mark Kelly, Jon Tester, and Jeanne Shaheen, haven’t committed to changing the Senate rules to allow elections reform legislation to pass by a simple majority. (NBC News / New York Times / ABC News / Politico / Washington Post / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2022/01/11/day-357/