Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday night blocked an attempt by Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) to set up simple majority votes on a sweeping elections bill and legislation to bolster the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which would have allowed Democrats to pass the two bills without GOP support.
Schumer, on the Senate, floor detailed his offer: allowing the two bills to need only a simple majority to pass instead of needing the normal 60 votes to advance in the Senate. In exchange, Democrats would sign off on holding simple majority votes on nearly 20 bills that Republicans placed on the Senate calendar, which makes them available for a vote but doesn't guarantee they'll get one.
"We Democrats aren't afraid of these votes. So what I proposed to the Republican leader is that the Senate hold up-or-down votes at a majority threshold on each of the Republicans bills he has outlined tonight as well as the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act," Schumer said from the Senate floor.
McConnell, however, rejected Schumer's offer without elaborating on his objection. Under the Senate's rules, any one senator can try to set up a vote or pass a bill, but because it requires signoff from the full Senate, any one senator can also object and block the request.
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Thank you Mitch!
The Constitution including the Bill of Rights was created as the Foundation on which Our Nation was to Stand and as a "Barrier to contain the Powers of Our Governments." Our problems and shames appear to be the habitual habit of Electing Attorneys to Serve us in those Sacred Offices, who insist on "Looking for Loopholes in those Fences Containing Them!"
Lynn Bryant DeSpain