( Democracy Docket ) LIVE UPDATES: Voting Rights Battle in the U.S. Senate
In the face of Republican voter suppression and election subversion, Senate Democrats are poised to move forward on a crucial piece of voting rights legislation. The process of introducing legislation, bypassing the filibuster and enacting the legislation will take several distinct steps. Follow this space for updates.
Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2021
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer plans to take advantage of a rarely-used procedural tactic: “messages between the Houses.” There is an unrelated bill — regarding NASA leasing “underutilized” property to private groups — that has already moved several times (sometimes called the amendment exchange or “ping-pong method”) between the House and Senate for revisions. Either today or tomorrow, the House will replace the existing language from the NASA “shell” bill with the language of the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. If the House passes this revised bill, they will send it to the Senate. Due to procedural rules, the motion to proceed on this “message” cannot be filibustered, meaning the Senate will be able to open debate on the bill.
According to this strategy, the Senate will begin debate on the voting rights legislation within the next few days, teeing up a final vote by Monday, Jan. 17, Martin Luther King Jr. Day. While the Monday vote to adopt the legislation will still be subject to the 60-vote filibuster threshold, the opportunity to cast an up-down vote on modifying Senate rules for the purpose of passing the legislation itself (instead of a motion to proceed) builds the pressure on hesitant senators.
https://www.democracydocket.com/alerts/live-updates-voting-rights-battle-in-the-u-s-senate
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