Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News
In what can only be described as the process reaching its logical conclusion, Democrat-backed voting legislation failed to reach President Joe Biden’s desk after the Senate’s Wednesday-night vote on ending the filibuster failed.
Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) were true to their word and joined all Senate Republicans in voting against a motion that would have ended the filibuster, defeating the measure by a 52-to-48 margin.
Wednesday’s defeat does not spell the official end of voting rights legislation. Democrats can always seek new angles from which to approach the matter, although so long as the filibuster stands almost any approach would be doomed.
On Twitter, President Biden indicated another attempt would be made:
I am profoundly disappointed that the Senate has failed to stand up for our democracy. I am disappointed — but I am not deterred.
We will continue to advance necessary legislation and push for Senate procedural changes that will protect the fundamental right to vote.
— President Biden (@POTUS) January 20, 2022
Republicans, predictably, celebrated another a growing string of high-profile wins over Biden. Late last year, when Manchin pledged to vote no on Build Back Better, the president had instructed his supporters in Congress to refocus on election laws, the presumption being that area was riper for victory than social and climate spending.
In a lengthy Twitter thread, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) celebrated the development having vigorously opposed what he called the “Democrats’ federal takeover of elections,” calling its defeat “good news for Americans.”
This evening, I delivered my closing argument against Democrats' federal takeover of elections and their shameful attempt to break the rules to ram this misguided bill through the Senate. Both efforts ultimately failed. That’s good news for Americans. https://t.co/DfW4hfevkm
— Senator Roy Blunt (@RoyBlunt) January 20, 2022
In the same thread, Blunt wrote, “Democrats have tried and failed over the past 20 years to pass massive, partisan elections legislation. The policies don’t change, only the false arguments used to justify them.”
As numerous states have enacted new voting procedures and begun redrawing their congressional maps following the 2020 census, liberals have cried foul. They contend that both the modified voting laws and redistricting efforts are meant to stymie the votes of minorities.
Democrats had hoped to use voting legislation to reinstate the practice of preapproval, a process that allowed Congress to oversee state election procedures including redistricting, and also force states to permanently adopt mail-in voting and same-day registration.
Republicans argue new laws are rather meant to ensure electoral integrity and have contended that voting rights are not under threat in the modern day. They point to record voter participation and a lack of reported cases of voter suppression as evidence.
“The good news for America is that record numbers of Americans voted in the last election,” Sen. John N. Kennedy (R-La.) tweeted Wednesday. “The bad news for Democrats is that it’s kind of hard to make the argument that votes are being suppressed.”
Earlier this week, some Democrats floated the idea of forcing Republicans to engage in a weekslong filibuster and motions process, but this threat never came to fruition.
Observers were treated to fiery speeches and plenty of rhetoric, but the threat never materialized.