In a long-awaited speech, Biden denounced voting restrictions

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Washington (AFP) – President Joe Biden will raise the “moral issue” of voting rights as he faces mounting pressure from civil rights activists and other Democrats to fight efforts by Republican-led state legislatures to restrict access to the ballot.

Biden declared that protecting voting rights was the primary reason for his presidency, but the White House has come under fire from allies for not doing more while facing political headwinds and stubborn mathematics in the Senate that have severely limited his ability to act.

White House aides said Biden’s speech on Tuesday in Philadelphia, which will be delivered at the National Constitution Center, is intended to launch a public pressure campaign, even as legislative options to block voting restrictions face significant hurdles.

“He will make the moral argument for why denying the right to vote is a form of repression and a form of silencing,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Monday as she reviewed the letter. “He will redouble his commitment to using every tool at his disposal to continue the fight to protect the fundamental right of Americans to vote against the onslaught of voter suppression laws.”

Many states have enacted voting restrictions, and others are discussing them, with Republicans using former President Donald Trump’s false allegation of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election as an excuse to limit access to the ballot.

On Monday, Psaki said Biden would pledge to “overcome the worst challenge to our democracy since the Civil War.” But his aides indicated that his speech would not contain much in the way of the new proposals.

Democrats on Capitol Hill have already tried to respond with mass voting and an election law that Senate Republicans have united to block. Most Republicans similarly rejected a separate bill, the John Lewis Voting Rights Development Act, that would restore sections of the Voting Rights Act that had previously been weakened by the Supreme Court.

These roadblocks have increased the focus on disrupting the Senate, which, if left in place, appears to provide an insurmountable barrier to pending voting rights reform measures in Congress. Republicans are unanimous in their opposition, and it will take a repeal, or at least amending the stall, for the bills to have a chance to pass.

Moderate Democrats such as Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Senator Kirsten Senema of Arizona have so far expressed reluctance to change Senate traditions. Voting bills have no further chance of being passed in a body that hit a 50-50 deadlock, with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the tie.

Biden’s long-awaited speech was due to be released just hours after a group of Texas Democratic lawmakers arrived in the nation’s capital after fleeing their state in an attempt to kill a Republican bill that would make it difficult to vote in Texas. Lawmakers have said they are ready to stay in Washington for weeks, leading to an exciting new confrontation over America’s voting rights.

Private jets have flown a large group of Democrats from Austin to Washington, where lawmakers have left the city just days before the Texas House is expected to give early approval of sweeping new voting restrictions in a special legislative session. They hoped to deprive the legislature of a quorum—the minimum number of representatives that must be present for the body to function.

Hours later, Republican Governor Greg Abbott said he would continue to call special sessions until next year if necessary, and raised the possibility that Democrats could be arrested when they return home.

Many Democrats expressed frustration with the lack of pressure from the White House to fix the stall, with civil rights activists asserting that Biden had been elected with broad support from blacks whose votes are often jeopardized by voting restrictions. House Majority Webb urged Jim Clipburn, a longtime Biden ally, this week to amend the stalling of voting rights legislation.

Biden, a veteran senator, offered some support for the stalled changes but did not put his political weight behind the issue. He and Harris, who is leading the administration’s efforts on voting rights, met last week with some civil rights leaders, who have made clear they expect a legislative solution.

“Our backs are on the wall. This is the moment. We don’t have time left,” Shirin Evil, chair of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, said after the meeting. “I told the president: We will not be able to sue to get out of this threat to black citizenship.

Although not giving up hope for a legislative solution, the West Wing has shifted focus to other measures to protect the vote, including legal remedies being pursued by the Department of Justice and in individual states, according to officials. There will also be a focus on increasing voter turnout, with aides pointing to Democrats’ successes in getting votes last year during the height of the pandemic.

However, officials acknowledge that voting on voters is always more difficult in a non-presidential election year. Some frustrated aides, seeing reality in the Senate, believe that too much focus has been placed on federal legislative measures and believe that civic and business groups could also play a role in fighting voting restrictions, noting that the protest in Georgia helped water. Below are some proposed GOP plans.

Many Republicans continue to question the outcome of the 2020 election, despite the lack of evidence of fraud. Republican elected officials in a number of states responded by enacting restrictions on early voting and postcards, as well as stricter voter identification laws, leading some liberals to demand more Biden.

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