Biden to back Senate rule change to pass voting rights bill

By ALEXANDRA JAFFE, COLLEEN LONG and JEFF AMY

ATLANTA (AP) — President Joe Biden volition usage a code successful Georgia to endorse changing Senate rules that person stalled voting rights legislation, saying it’s clip to take “democracy implicit autocracy.” But immoderate civilian rights groups won’t beryllium there, successful protestation of what they accidental is medication inaction.

As helium turns to his existent challenge, Biden connected Tuesday is besides paying tribute to civilian rights battles past — visiting Atlanta’s historical Ebenezer Baptist Church, wherever the precocious Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. erstwhile held distant from the pulpit. He besides stood softly arsenic Martin Luther King III placed a wreath extracurricular astatine the crypt of King and his wife, Coretta Scott King.

With Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., mounting adjacent Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day arsenic a deadline to either walk voting authorities oregon see revising the rules astir the chamber’s filibuster blocking device, Biden is expected to evoke the memories of the U.S. Capitol riot a twelvemonth agone successful much forcefully aligning himself with the voting rights effort.

Biden plans to archer his audience, “The adjacent fewer days, erstwhile these bills travel to a vote, volition people a turning constituent successful this nation.”

“Will we take ideology implicit autocracy, airy implicit shadow, justness implicit injustice? I cognize wherever I stand. I volition not yield. I volition not flinch,” he’ll say, according to prepared remarks. “I volition support your close to ballot and our ideology against each enemies overseas and domestic. And truthful the question is wherever volition the instauration of the United States Senate stand?”

Current rules necessitate 60 votes to beforehand astir authorities — a threshold that Senate Democrats can’t conscionable unsocial due to the fact that they lone person a 50-50 bulk with Vice President Kamala Harris to interruption ties. Republicans unanimously reason the voting rights measures.

Biden successful the past has waded much cautiously into the debate. He is nether tremendous governmental unit to technologist a breakthrough, though it’s not wide what applicable effect helium tin have.

Underscoring that pressure, King said successful a connection that helium was pleased to conscionable with Biden but helium besides supported those who chose to skip the speech.

“We’ve seen what’s imaginable erstwhile President Biden uses the afloat value of his bureau to present for bridges,” helium said, referencing Biden’s palmy propulsion for a $1 trillion infrastructure spending deal. “And present we request to spot him bash the aforesaid for voting rights.”

Not each Democrats are connected committee with changing the filibuster rules. Conservative West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin threw acold h2o connected the thought Tuesday, saying helium believes immoderate changes should beryllium made with important Republican buy-in.

And adjacent if Democrats wide the obstacles to transition of the voting rights laws, it could beryllium excessively precocious to antagonistic wide voting restrictions passed successful 19 states pursuing erstwhile President Donald Trump’s 2020 nonaccomplishment and his lies — embraced by galore successful the GOP — that the predetermination was stolen done elector fraud.

Some voting rights advocates planned to boycott Biden’s speech. Georgia Democratic gubernatorial campaigner Stacey Abrams, known for her untiring voting rights work, besides was skipping the event. The White House, meanwhile, sent retired an unusually agelong database of attendees for the speech. Aides said Abrams had a struggle but didn’t explicate further, though she tweeted enactment for the president.

Biden said earlier his travel the 2 had a scheduling mix-up but had spoken and were “all connected the aforesaid page.”

When asked what helium was risking politically by speaking retired erstwhile determination aren’t capable votes to alteration the rules, helium said: “I hazard not saying what I believe. That’s what I risk. This is 1 of those defining moments. It truly is. People are going to beryllium judged connected wherever were they earlier and wherever were they aft the vote. History is going to justice us.”

Voting rights advocates successful Georgia and nationwide are progressively anxious astir what whitethorn hap successful 2022 and beyond. They presumption the changes successful galore states arsenic a subtler signifier of ballot restrictions similar literacy tests and canvass taxes erstwhile utilized to disenfranchise Black voters, a cardinal Democratic constituency.

“We’re beyond speeches. At this point, what we need, what we are demanding, is national legislation,” said LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Votes Matter. And it can’t hap soon enough, she said.

Republicans who person fallen successful enactment down Trump’s predetermination misinformation are separately promoting efforts to power aboriginal elections by installing sympathetic leaders successful section predetermination posts and by backing for elective bureau immoderate of those who participated successful the riot astatine the U.S. Capitol a twelvemonth ago.

Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia, who is elder pastor astatine Ebenezer Baptist and made past arsenic the archetypal Black legislator elected successful Georgia, said that “anything that tin hap that volition proceed to radiance a agleam airy connected the urgency of this contented is important.”

Warnock, who accompanied Biden to Georgia aboard Air Force One, said helium believes Biden understands that “democracy itself is imperiled by this all-out battle that we’ve been witnessing by authorities legislatures each crossed the country, and this is simply a motivation moment. Everybody indispensable amusement up.”

White House property caput Jen Psaki rejected immoderate activists’ complaints that Biden hasn’t been a beardown capable advocate.

“We recognize the vexation by galore advocates that this is not passed into law, yet. He would emotion to person signed this into instrumentality himself,” she said.

Georgia is astatine the halfway of it all, 1 of the cardinal battleground states successful the 2020 elections. After the votes were counted and recounted, Trump told a apical authorities predetermination authoritative helium wanted the authoritative to “find” capable votes to overturn his loss. The state’s votes nevertheless went to Biden, and some of its Senate seats went to Democrats arsenic well.

Last year, the Republican politician signed a sweeping rewrite of predetermination rules that, among different things, gives the State Election Board caller powers to intervene successful region predetermination offices and to region and regenerate section predetermination officials. That has led to concerns that the Republican-controlled authorities committee could exert much power implicit the medication of elections, including the certification of region results.

Congressional Democrats person written voting authorities that would usher successful the biggest overhaul of U.S. elections successful a procreation by striking down hurdles to voting enacted successful the sanction of predetermination security, reducing the power of large wealth successful authorities and limiting partisan power implicit the drafting of legislature districts.

The bundle would make nationalist predetermination standards that would trump state-level GOP laws. It would besides reconstruct the quality of the Justice Department to constabulary predetermination laws successful states with a past of discrimination.

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Amy reported from Atlanta. AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.