President Biden is not yet considering executive action on voting rights, an issue that he declared as a candidate would be “one of the first things” on his agenda, White House Domestic Policy Council chief Susan Rice said Tuesday.
Rice, appearing in her first White House press briefing since assuming the new role, introduced four new executive orders focused on racial redress but said that the White House would defer to Congress, for the time being, at least, on new voting rights legislation.
Democrats are pressing to restore a vital provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the nation’s landmark ballot access legislation, that was struck down by a 2013 Supreme Court ruling, freeing nine states, mostly in the South, to change their election laws without federal oversight. The new bill would require a clearance from the Justice Department for changes to voting rules.
In a campaign address last year, Biden said if Congress failed to support the bill, he would make it a priority once in office.
“One thing the Senate and the president can do right away is pass, right away, pass the bill to restore the Voting Rights Act,” Biden said in July.
House Democrats renamed the measure for civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis after his death last summer. Lewis, who led the first of three historic civil rights marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, made voting access his life’s work. After passing in the House in December, a companion bill stalled in the Senate.
After Lewis’s death and an outpouring of bipartisan praise, Biden urged lawmakers to act.
“Back the effusive praise we’ve heard since he passed, especially from many of our Republican friends, back it with some action,” the then-candidate said. “Protect that sacred right that he was willing to die for. If they don’t … it’s one of the first things I’ll do as president, if elected.”
Democrats won control of the U.S. Senate in January after winning a pair of Senate runoffs in Georgia, possibly shifting the White House’s timeline for action.
“It’s a matter of real concern,” Rice said. “We ought to be in the business of encouraging and enabling all Americans who are eligible to vote to be able to vote.”
During the briefing, Rice detailed Biden’s executive orders, which she said would help build “a more equitable economy.”
Biden broached the measure on Tuesday during an event at the White House where he signed the four racial equity executive orders, again urging action from lawmakers.
“We need to restore and expand the Voting Rights Act, named after our dear friend John Lewis, and continue to fight back against laws that many states are engaged in to suppress the right to vote while expanding access to the ballot box for all eligible voters,” he said.
According to the White House, the orders will direct the Department of Housing and Urban Development to address racially discriminatory federal housing policies, halt Department of Justice contracts with private prisons, and “recommit” respect to tribal sovereignty. A fourth will move to combat xenophobia against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
“These aren’t ‘feel good’ policies,” Rice said. “The evidence is clear. Investing in equity is good for economic growth. And it creates jobs for all Americans.”
Rice said the White House would “have more to say” on issues of criminal justice in the coming weeks, “including on matters related to policing.”
