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Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Republicans Sink Voting Rights Bill Again!

The other side doesn't want to play with you.

BLACK LIVES MATTER

PROTECT BLACK WOMEN! 

STOP ASIAN HATE!

PROTECT AAPI WOMEN!

FREE PALESTINE🇵🇸!

WEAR A DAMN MASK! SAVE A LIFE! TRUST SCIENCE AND MEDICAL EXPERTS! THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC IS FUCKING REAL!

CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL!

GET VACCINATED! IF THE OPPORTUNITY TO GET THE VACCINES ARE AVAILABLE, GET IT WHILE IT'S STILL FREE! THE MEDICAL EXPERTS SAY THE VACCINES DO WORK AND IT REDUCES THE RISK OF CORONAVIRUS INFECTION. OVER 760,000 AMERICANS ARE DEAD FROM THE CORONAVIRUS.

HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE NOW! VOTE THESE DUMBASS LAWMAKERS OUT OF OFFICE! STOP SUPPORTING ALL FORMS OF EXTREMISM!

GIVE PUERTO RICO, GUAM, AMERICAN SAMOA, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS AND NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS THE RIGHT TO VOTE IN THE U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS! GRANT STATEHOOD TO THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. MAKE IT THE DOUGLASS COMMONWEALTH.

GOOGLE'S BLOGGER IS STRAIGHT UP TRASH! THE BLOGGER INTERFACE IS A TOTAL DISASTER AND IT'S RIDICULOUS!

WHITE PRIVILEGE IS REAL! IT'S "SUIT AND TIE" WHITE SUPREMACY ON TELEVISION, RADIO, THE INTERNET AND AMERICAN POLICY!

WE'RE NOT THE ESTABLISHMENT! WE ARE THE VOTERS WHO SUPPORT CANDIDATES THAT AREN'T THE NOISE! REJECT EXTREMISTS ON THE LEFT AND ESPECIALLY ON THE RIGHT!

YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID!

EXPECT MORE!

Sinking the John Lewis Voting Rights bill should be a wake up call for Sen. Karen Manchin (D-WV). He put his hopes that at least seven Karens would have joined the Democrats in passing his watered down version of the voting rights bill.

The two Karens in the Democratic caucus joined the caucus and two independents in supporting the slim down voting rights bill. The 50 Karens in the Republican conference refused to support this bipartisan compromise that Manchin carved out specifically for them. 

Democrats are now angry and they're telling Manchin and Sen. Karen Sinema (D-AZ) this is the last straw. They are being bombarded with protesters telling them they won't get a moment of sleep or peace if they continue to obstruct President Joe Biden's Build Back Better plan.

Now the West Virginia senator is frustrated and is threatening to leave the Democratic Party and become an independent. It would put control back in the Republicans if he does leave the party.

Senate Democrats' most forceful and perhaps last push for major voting rights legislation this year was blocked by a Republican filibuster on Wednesday afternoon.

The procedural vote to move forward with the Freedom to Vote Act failed despite Democrats' effort to craft a compromise bill led in part by Sen. Joe Manchin. The West Virginia Democrat had hoped to get enough GOP votes to overcome a filibuster, but in the end no Republicans voted to advance the legislation.

Democrats say federal voting legislation is needed to counteract a wave of new restrictions from Republican-controlled state legislatures across the country. Critics of those laws say they are making it more difficult to vote, particularly for people of color.

The Freedom to Vote Act would have, among other things, established Election Day as a national holiday, set national minimum standards for early voting and voting by mail, and created new requirements for groups not currently required to disclose their financial donors. It also included standards for states that require voter identification, something that was a priority of Manchin.

"We're not deterred, but there's still a lot of work to do and I think it's really a sad day," said Vice President Harris after Wednesday's vote.

"We're not going to give up," she said. "We've never given up — those of us who have fought for the right of every American to express their voice through their vote. We're going to continue to do the work."

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said a vote on the narrower John Lewis bill, meant to restore the Voting Rights Act, will come to the floor as soon as next week.

The Freedom to Vote Act was negotiated by a group of Senate Democrats, including Manchin, who was his party's lone holdout on the sweeping voting rights measure that passed the House earlier this year. Parts of the House-passed bill, called the For the People Act, were scaled back to win over Manchin's support, as well as some Republicans. Manchin played a key role in courting Republican support for the compromise bill in recent weeks.

But Republicans didn't budge.

Obstruction leader Karen McConnell (R-KY) said Tuesday that it was his "hope and anticipation" that no Republicans would vote for the Freedom to Vote Act, which he described as an attempt by Democratic lawmakers "to have the federal government take over how elections are conducted all over America."

The failed procedural vote on Wednesday is likely to thrust lawmakers into another high-profile fight over whether to change Senate rules to abolish the legislative filibuster, or to carve out an exception for voting rights legislation. But some Democratic senators, including Manchin, have rejected calls to change the filibuster.

Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat, said that Wednesday's vote was an opportunity to show that Democrats were united on voting rights legislation.

"We have to very clearly demonstrate to some of our colleagues that we've exhausted every other option," said Van Hollen, who supports eliminating the filibuster. "But patience is not eternal, time is running out."

Voting rights activists are getting frustrated with the president. They demand he do more to get the Build Back Agenda passed now. They are tired of the status quo and they are threatening to punish Democrats if they can't get voting rights and infrastructure passed.

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