Current Events > Biden SLAMS Republicans. Tells congress to pass legislation to protect democracy

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https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-voting-rights-speech-watch-live-today-2021-07-13/?ftag=CNM-00-10aac3a

President Biden denounced efforts by lawmakers in Republican-led states to impose new restrictions on voting, decrying their efforts as a "21st century Jim Crow assault" and urging Congress to pass federal laws to protect voting access.

On Tuesday, in a speech on voting rights from the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, the president focused much of his ire at Republicans in Texas, accusing them of wanting to "intimidate" voters of making them drive further and wait longer to vote. His address came as Democrats in the Texas legislature had flown to Washington, D.C., denying state House Republicans a quorum and thereby stopping a vote on the state's election law bill.

"They want to make it so hard and inconvenient that they hope people don't vote at all," Mr. Biden said, adding, "This year alone, 17 states have enacted not just proposed, but enacted 28 new laws to make it harder for Americans to vote," the president said.

"The 21st century Jim Crow assault is real," the president said. "It's unrelenting. We're going to challenge it vigorously."

The president framed the fight for voting rights as "the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War."

"The confederates back then never breached the Capitol, as insurrectionists did on January the 6," he said. "I'm not saying this to alarm you. I'm saying this because you should be alarmed."

And he went on to urge Congress, in perhaps his strongest language yet, to pass legislation to protect voting rights.

"We must pass the For the People Act," he said of the sweeping voting rights legislation passed by the House but blocked by Republicans in the Senate. "It's a national imperative." The bill has no Senate Republican support and would need 10 Republican votes to pass.

"We must also fight for the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, to restore and expand voting protections and prevent voter suppression," the president said. This bill, which has not yet been introduced, has the support of one Republican, Senator Lisa Murkowski.

Democrats in Congress are also working on legislation that would restore protections of the Voting Rights Act that were struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013.

VS

Go Joe

Former republican and yes, I believe in democracy and Biden is correct.

Any country/state that wantonly restricts the rights and abilities of its citizens to participate in a free and fair election is a failed state.

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Unclover028 posted...

I believe in democracy and Biden is correct.

wackyteen posted...

Any country/state that wantonly restricts the rights and abilities of its citizens to participate in a free and fair election is a failed state.

Who are the people voting no? Care to explain?

These laws are the legacy of Trump.

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who cares, criticizing them doesnt change anything and the Dems have decided they don't want to end the filibuster so its their own fault these bills dont get passed

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Its nice Joe is finally speaking out like this, but it falls a little flat, given Democrats are part of the problem here.

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ElatedVenusaur posted...

Its nice Joe is finally speaking out like this, but it falls a little flat, given Democrats are part of the problem here.

Literally Democrats are not part of this particular problem.

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ElatedVenusaur posted...

Its nice Joe is finally speaking out like this, but it falls a little flat, given Democrats are part of the problem here.

In what way?

ElatedVenusaur posted...

Its nice Joe is finally speaking out like this, but it falls a little flat, given Democrats are part of the problem here.

This bill could pass with 50 Democrats willing to get rid of the filibuster. The filibuster is nowhere to be found in the Constitution, or any laws, and historically has mainly been used to block the passage of civil rights legislation.

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Tag

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Just implement voter ID and all this drama goes away and democracy becomes secure.

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ZannoL posted...

"I'm not saying this to alarm you. I'm saying this because you should be alarmed."

Remember when people said Biden would heal the divide?

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PC-Builder_Pony posted...

Just implement voter ID and all this drama goes away and democracy becomes secure.

They don't want that. They'll have to wave all those democrat votes goodbye. Every actual democray requires ID to vote but this the hill they choose to die on.

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Uh oh Tails' alts are here

It's time for the U.S. to stop pretending like we need Republicans to maintain our democracy (or at least what we think is democracy).

They are an active threat to it.

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Why vote no?

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PC-Builder_Pony posted...

Just implement voter ID and all this drama goes away and democracy becomes secure.

Mike Pence being a Republican didn't stop you guys from trying to kill him. Appeasement doesn't work.

Background_Guy posted...

Uh oh Tails' alts are here

Who is it so I can tag?

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Doe posted...

who cares, criticizing them doesnt change anything and the Dems have decided they don't want to end the filibuster so its their own fault these bills dont get passed

They're discussing something with Harris about it right now. We don't know what exactly. Could be nuclear option or could be removal of filibuster.

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Sinema and manchin need to be confronted and pressured hard

Was it a spinning spinebuster or a belly-to-back suplex?

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CADE FOSTER posted...

Sinema and manchin need to be confronted and pressured hard

Theyre just the most visible opponents. Coons, Warner, Feinstein, etc. are also always waxing poetic about the sanctity of the Senate.
Plus, I suspect a non-zero part of the opposition to filibuster reform is that then they might have to actually debate and vote on bills, and it kind of seems to me like theres a bipartisan consensus amongst Senators that they would rather do anything else.

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There is nothing wrong with what the Republicans are doing.

Providing voter ID and requiring signature verification is necessary.

This is not Jim Crow and it's ignorant to think so.

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PC-Builder_Pony posted...

Just implement voter ID and all this drama goes away and democracy becomes secure.

Georgia did that and when the Republicans lost, they cut polling places in minority communities, the staffing and the hours that they were open. 8 hour lines resulted.

Republicans in GA even made it harder to get voter IDs and driver's licenses by.....closing DMV offices in minority districts and those that remained open had hours and staffing cut.

When the Republicans STILL lost, they banned serving water for people standing in the manufactured 8 hour lines in minority majority precincts.

Bottom line is Republicans appear to want NO minorities voting and will change the law ad nauseum in order to get the outcome they want.

Texas is now trying the same.

There is no evidence of widespread or systematic voter fraud anywhere in America.

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RamboCell29 posted...

There is nothing wrong with what the Republicans are doing.

Providing voter ID and requiring signature verification is necessary.

This is not Jim Crow and it's ignorant to think so.

It is Jim Crow 2.0.

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Someone needs to explain how requiring ID and signature verification is racist Jim Crow 2.0.

It is not.

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PC-Builder_Pony posted...

Just implement voter ID and all this drama goes away and democracy becomes secure.

Voter ID is only used to stop people voting, not make it more secure. In the west (at least in America and the UK) voter fraud is practically none existent.

It simply does not happen on any meaningful scale to actually impact anything. So the only reason to implement it is to put people off from voting as another step they have to go through, or hinders those without ID.

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RamboCell29 posted...

Someone needs to explain how requiring ID and signature verification is racist Jim Crow 2.0.

It is not.

It is when they restrict getting an ID as well.

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Conservatives are poisonous to democracy.

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RamboCell29 posted...

There is nothing wrong with what the Republicans are doing.

Providing voter ID and requiring signature verification is necessary.

This is not Jim Crow and it's ignorant to think so.

That's not what Republicans are doing lol

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RamboCell29 posted...

Someone needs to explain how requiring ID and signature verification is racist Jim Crow 2.0.

It is not.

Making it harder for some to get an ID than others by moving or closing DMVs and limiting the staffing and hours of these places in minority areas is red flag one. Moving polling places from the city to rural areas is red flag 2.

https://tinyurl.com/2df5sf2z (reuters)

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/15/ohio-us-election-voter-suppression

https://www.governing.com/archive/alabama-demands-voter-id--then-closes-drivers-license-offices-in-clack-counties.html

This is from a simple google search.

Jim Crow 2.0.


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RamboCell29 posted...

Someone needs to explain how requiring ID and signature verification is racist Jim Crow 2.0.

It is not.

This is the same shit people asked about poll taxes.

Elmer_Glue posted...

It is when they restrict getting an ID as well.

It is not hard to get an ID. There are no restrictions keeping citizens from obtaining some sort of identification.

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RamboCell29 posted...

Someone needs to explain how requiring ID and signature verification is racist Jim Crow 2.0.

It is not.

It's Jim Crow 2.0, redcap. No wonder Republicans loves the poorly educated.

RamboCell29 posted...

It is not hard to get an ID. There are no restrictions keeping citizens from obtaining some sort of identification.

Yes there is.

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Funkydog posted...

Voter ID is only used to stop people voting, not make it more secure. In the west (at least in America and the UK) voter fraud is practically none existent.

It simply does not happen on any meaningful scale to actually impact anything. So the only reason to implement it is to put people off from voting as another step they have to go through, or hinders those without ID.

RamboCell29 posted...

It is not hard to get an ID

It is when the local government makes it more difficult to get an ID

Damn no wonder people think conservatives are uneducated lol

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ButteryMales posted...

This is the same shit people asked about poll taxes.

Identification =/= poll tax. Literally anyone can obtain state identification for voting.

That said, I am all for providing some sort of ID to all citizens (and only citizens, not undocumented people) to ensure there can be no confusion on the issue. Pull federal funding from the military, or tax for it.

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RamboCell29 posted...

It is not hard to get an ID. There are no restrictions keeping citizens from obtaining some sort of identification.

Nothing to see here folks. Nothing serious going on. Let's all move along.

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RamboCell29 posted...

Identification =/= poll tax.

Since when is identification free? Birth certificates aren't even free.

Doom_Art posted...

It is when the local government makes it more difficult to get an ID

Damn no wonder people think conservatives are uneducated lol

Conservatives don't have an issue getting an ID though

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RamboCell29 posted...

Someone needs to explain how requiring ID and signature verification is racist Jim Crow 2.0.

It is not.

Jim Crow wasn't Jim Crow until it was. Jim Crow was a label applied in hindsight. It wasn't a thing being discussed as it was actively being legislated.

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Boy, it's almost like voter ID requirements don't exist in a vacuum or something.

It's almost like the party proposing these pieces of legislation have chronic issues with their representatives being bad faith actors who conveniently neglect to mention that their voter ID proposals are not simply voter ID requirements in a vacuum.

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PC-Builder_Pony posted...

Conservatives don't have an issue getting an ID though

They leave the DMVs open in conservative areas.

RamboCell29 posted...

Identification =/= poll tax. Literally anyone can obtain state identification for voting.

That said, I am all for providing some sort of ID to all citizens (and only citizens, not undocumented people) to ensure there can be no confusion on the issue. Pull federal funding from the military, or tax for it.

How do you explain certain states not accepting student IDs as not being valid forms of ID?

ButteryMales posted...

They leave the DMVs open in conservative areas.

Let's have Biden open more DMVs then.

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