The Republicans in the Senate quite easily blocked Democrats from advancing towards the voting rights bill!
This comes as a huge blow just in time as President Biden completes his first year as the president of the United States of America.
Two moderate Democrats also rejected a bid of changing filibuster rules of the Senate – making it next to impossible for the democrats to pass legislation without the help of their fellow Republicans.
The Freedom to Vote Act was a Democrat supported bill that was cut off at debate so that a final vote can be cast for the bill to proceed.
The vote came out to be 49-51 on Wednesday – falling short of the 60-vote majority in order to end the debate. The initial tally was a 50-50 vote but senate majority leader Chuck Schumer changed his vote from yes to no at the very last moment – making a procedural move which entitles him from casting a vote later.
Within the next two hours, Democrats faced another blow when a vote out was conducted in which the Democratic leader pushed to change the body rules, that is changing the filibuster rules which will make them advance without needing the usual 60 votes majority.
This was also rejected by the Republicans as the vote came out to be 52-48.
“I am profoundly disappointed that the United States Senate has failed to stand up for our democracy,” Biden said in a Wednesday evening statement. “I am disappointed — but I am not deterred.”
Disappointment spread in the Democratic sphere as Biden has been witnessing the lowest approval in terms of number and most of his agendas stall at the Congress because of the inability to retain the majority as well as unify his party representation in the Senate.
“People are feeling like they’re getting less than they bargained for when they put Biden in office. There’s a lot of emotions, and none of them are good,” Quentin Wathum-Ocama, president of the Young Democrats of America, told The Associated Press. “I don’t know if the right word is ‘apoplectic’ or ‘demoralized.’ We’re down. We’re not seeing the results.”
“We need transformative change — our very lives depend on it,” added Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo. “And because we haven’t seen those results yet, we’re frustrated — frustrated that despite everything we did to deliver a Democratic White House, Senate, and House of Representatives, our needs and our lives are still not being treated as a top priority. That needs to change.”
This can be worrisome for the Biden den as if this behavior of the Democrats continues in the Congress, then they might resort into razor-thin majorities, resulting in losing their positions to the Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections to be held in November 2022.
