President Joe Biden said Tuesday that Vice President Kamala Harris will lead the administration’s push to protect voting rights as federal election reform legislation faces steep hurdles in a closely divided Senate.
Biden, during remarks commemorating the Tulsa, Oklahoma race massacre, said that with Harris in charge, voting reforms would “address what remains on the stained soul of America.”
“With her leadership, and your support, we’re going to overcome again,” he said, speaking to community leaders and survivors on the 100-year anniversary of the bloody attack on the city’s Black residents.
Harris said she will work with organizations and lawmakers on the high-profile issue.
“In the days and weeks ahead, I will engage the American people, and I will work with voting rights organizations, community organizations, and the private sector to help strengthen and uplift efforts on voting rights nationwide. And we will also work with members of Congress to help advance these bills,” the vice president said in a statement. “Our Administration will not stand by when confronted with any effort that keeps Americans from voting.”
Biden also condemned as “un-American” Republican-led efforts to place new limits on elections in the wake of President Donald Trump’s defeat, including in Texas, where Democrats staged a walkout over the weekend to effectively kill a restrictive voting bill.
“Texas legislators put forth a bill that joins Georgia and Florida in advancing a state law that attacks the sacred right to vote,” he said. “It’s part of an assault on democracy that we’ve seen far too often this year—and often disproportionately targeting Black and Brown Americans.”
Biden in his speech asked voting rights groups to “redouble their efforts now to register and educate voters,” and said his administration will be “ramping up efforts” to counter the “unprecedented assault” on voting.
“I will have more to say about this at a later date,” he said.
The Democratic-controlled House passed the For the People Act in March, which would expand access to the ballot box by creating automatic voter registration across the country, restoring the voting rights of the formerly incarcerated, expanding early voting, and modernizing America’s voting systems.
It would also force states to offer at least 15 days of early voting, universal access to mail-in voting and same-day registration for federal races. It’d make Election Day a national holiday, too.
Biden and Democrats argue federal intervention is needed to stop Republicans from reviving racist Jim Crow-style restrictions that make it harder for minorities to vote. Republicans have argued that Democrats are executing a power grab to remove necessary protections on the voting process and usurp authority from states.
But Biden used the moment in Tulsa to urge lawmakers to pass reforms.
“June should be a month of action on Capitol Hill,” Biden said, while also acknowledging the tight Democratic majorities.
He noted “two members of the Senate who vote more with my Republican friends.”
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
