To: Interested Parties
From: Fix Our Senate
Date: June 21, 2021
Re: Tomorrow’s vote and the filibuster
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Below are five points from Fix Our Senate to keep in mind in advance of tomorrow’s critical Senate vote to begin debate on voting rights legislation.
1. Tomorrow’s vote isn’t a vote on the substance of the For the People Act, it’s a vote to simply begin debate on voting rights legislation with the understanding that there would be continued work and potential compromises before it moved to final passage.
- Politico: “Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that the Senate could amend the bill to adopt Manchin’s changes.” [6/17/21]
- USA Today: “After Manchin released his document on the voting legislation, Schumer filed a fresh bill, expecting it could act as a vehicle for changes Manchin and others may seek, a Schumer spokesperson said. [6/21/21]
- KEY POINT: If Republicans vote no on Tuesday they will be voting against the Senate even having a bipartisan debate and negotiation on this critical bill.
2. Following Sen. Manchin’s release of a voting rights compromise proposal last week, which was quickly endorsed by Stacey Abrams, it is now clear that a majority of the United States Senate supports strong voting rights legislation and that the filibuster is the only thing standing in the way of it getting done.
- KEY POINT: If Sen. Manchin votes with Democrats to begin debate tomorrow, then the filibuster will be the only thing standing in the way of reform.
- Now that Sen. Manchin has released his compromise proposal, he has skin in the game and a clear need to get this over the finish line.
- Majority Leader Schumer said that “failure is not an option.” Now that he has 50 Democrats on board with voting rights, everybody should take this seriously and take him at his word: Senate Democrats must get this done and they can’t allow Sen. McConnell to use the filibuster to block this from the minority.
3. Sen. McConnell has made it clear that he’s not going to allow ten Republicans to vote with Democrats to break a filibuster on any voting rights legislation.
- Nobody should pay attention to Sen. McConnell’s claimed “concerns” about the substance of the For the People Act. The reality is that he knows that voter suppression and gerrymandering is good for Republicans, and he’s going to do everything he can to make sure it can continue.
- Sen. Graham said the quiet part out loud about Senate Republicans’ interest in protecting GOP state legislatures’ ability to continue their partisan gerrymandering.
- Associated Press: “McConnell predicted all Republicans would remain in lockstep opposition regardless of what changes are made.” [6/17/21]
4. Tuesday’s filibuster isn’t expected to be the end of the fight to eliminate the filibuster, but rather we expect it to launch a critical new phase in the fight that moves us significantly closer to reform. Here’s how we believe it will play out:
- We are hopeful that Sen. Manchin will vote with his fellow Democrats tomorrow on the motion to begin debate on voting rights. We are confident that Republicans will filibuster it.
- We do not expect Senate Democrats to immediately move to change the Senate rules to allow the debate to begin this week. While this would be ideal (we’ve been calling on Senate Democrats to eliminate the filibuster for months!), we expect there to be a few more steps before that happens.
- We expect Sen. Manchin to continue his good faith efforts over the recess to bring Republicans on board with his compromise proposal. We expect Sen. McConnell to use every power he has to ensure that Sen. Manchin fails.
- After a reasonable amount of time, we hope that Sen. Manchin will accept the reality that there simply aren’t ten Republicans willing to work with him on voting rights.
- REMINDER – WV Press: “New Polling Shows Support For Filibuster Reform"
- Before the August recess we are hopeful that Majority Leader Schumer will move to begin debate once again on voting rights legislation, which we expect to once again be blocked by Senate Republicans.
- At that point, we are hopeful that Senate Democrats will move to change Senate rules with a simple majority to end the abuse of the filibuster, kick off debate on voting rights legislation, and allow the Senate to pass legislation supported by a majority before they break for August recess.
5. Pressure from activists, advocates, and people across the country will continue to increase until the filibuster is fixed and voting rights are protected.
- Today Fix Our Senate launched a new seven-figure ad campaign to make sure people are connecting the dots between the need to protect voting rights and the outdated Senate rule that is preventing that (see new ad “Tested” here).
- Politico: “The vote will put the spotlight back on the filibuster. I.E. Fix Our Senate is rolling out a new, seven figure ad campaign today as it seeks to pressure Senate Democrats to “secure our democracy in this century … not defend the abused filibuster of the past.” The campaign, which will feature ads like this one, is set to run in states targeting certain Dem senators, starting in Delaware and Rhode Island before expanding in the coming weeks.” [6/21/21]
- This ad will be followed by additional ads, with significant resources behind them, in West Virginia, Arizona, and other key states across the country over the coming weeks.
- Additionally, Fix Our Senate’s nearly 80 member organizations and their tens of millions of members will be dialing up their filibuster-focused mobilization work significantly in the weeks ahead and calling on their senators to eliminate the filibuster as a weapon that Sen. McConnell can continue to use to block progress on the promises Democrats have made to voters.
