President Joe Biden capped his voting rights trip to Atlanta Tuesday by framing the fight as a battle between good and evil and endorsed reforming the Senate filibuster if Republican lawmakers won’t side with Democrats to pass voting rights legislation.
In particular, Biden reiterated that the only way to safeguard democracy from “autocracy” and “Jim Crow 2.0” was for the Senate to pass the For the People Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
“The next few days, when these bills come to a vote, will mark a turning point in this nation. Will we choose democracy over autocracy, light over shadow, justice over injustice? I know where I stand. I will not yield. I will not flinch,” Biden proclaimed during his speech. “I will defend your right to vote and our democracy against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and so the question is: Where will the institution of the United States Senate stand?”
White House officials said Georgia presented a special case in the voting rights debate. While the state was home to Martin Luther King Jr., the late Democratic Rep. John Lewis, and numerous other civil rights icons, officials noted that it’s also one of 19 states that passed a combined 34 bills in 2021 that “restrict access to voting.”
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Biden elaborated on that point Tuesday and linked those Republican legislators to the Trump administration’s efforts to decertify the results of the 2020 general election, eventually leading to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
“The goal of the former president and his allies is to disenfranchise anyone who votes against them,” he said. “That is the kind of power you see in a totalitarian state, not in a democracy.”
Furthermore, he urged Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his Republican colleagues to “get behind” the legislation like they did in 2006, when the Voting Rights Act extension was passed 98-0 in the Senate. That vote included 16 current Republican senators, according to Biden. The extension was signed into law by former President George W. Bush, a Republican.
Furthermore, the president gave his strongest endorsement yet to reforming Senate rules if Republicans continue to “block the way” on voting rights
“I’m tired of being quiet,” Biden said. “Not a single Republican has displayed the courage to stand up to a defeated president to protect America’s right to vote.”
He added: “Sadly, the United States Senate, the world’s greatest deliberative body, has been rendered a shell of its former self. I’m making it clear: To protect our democracy, I support changing the Senate rules whichever way they need to be changed to prevent a minority of senators from blocking action on voting rights. When it comes to protecting majority rule in America, the majority should rule in the United States Senate.”
The president proceeded to frame the debate in stark terms for sitting senators: They could either be part of the problem or fix it.
“Every senator — Democrat, Republican, and independent — will have to declare where they stand. Not just for the moment, but for the ages,” Biden continued. “Do you want to be the side of Dr. King or George Wallace? Do you want to be the side of John Lewis or Bull Connor? Do you want to be on the side of Abraham Lincoln or Jefferson Davis? This is the moment to decide, to defend our elections, to defend our democracy, and if you do that you will not be alone.”
Earlier in the day, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the crypt of King. They were joined by members of the King family, prominent voting and civil rights activists, and a cadre of national and local Democratic lawmakers.
The group also made a stop at the Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King was a pastor until his assassination in 1968, before heading to the Atlanta University Center Consortium at Morehouse College for Biden’s and Harris’s remarks.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer promised Tuesday afternoon to “act” on both bills in the next few days, but West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin signaled that he would not vote for either filibuster reform or voting rights bills that do not have any Republican support. Manchin voting no or even simply abstaining would prevent Democrats from moving on any of their voting rights reforms.
Asked by reporters in the traveling press pool if the Democrats have enough votes to pass their voting bills when brought to the Senate floor later this week, Biden responded, “Keep the faith.”
Left-wing activists heartily criticized Biden in 2021 for failing to use the bully pulpit adequately to push through voting rights legislation during his first year in office, and a number of activist groups backed out of Biden’s Tuesday trip over concerns that he would not be able to usher legislation through the Senate.
“Georgia voters made history and made their voices heard, overcoming obstacles, threats, and suppressive laws to deliver the White House and the U.S. Senate,” the Black Voters Matter Fund, the Asian American Advocacy Fund, the New Georgia Project Action Fund, and the GALEO Impact Action Fund wrote in a statement announcing their decision on Monday. “In return, a visit has been forced on them, requiring them to accept political platitudes and repetitious, bland promises. Such an empty gesture, without concrete action, without signs of real, tangible work, is unacceptable.”
James Woodall, a former president of the Georgia NAACP, also called on Biden to stop delivering “speeches” and “platitudes.”
“We don’t need any more photo ops. We need action, and that actually is in the form of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, as well as the Freedom to Vote Act,” he added in a separate statement. “We need that immediately.”
Republicans argue that these bills amount to a federal takeover of elections and that the laws they have passed at the state level are necessary to curb fraud and ensure voting integrity.
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You can watch his remarks in full below.
