The Senate found a way to bypass the filibuster to raise the debt ceiling, and Sen. Raphael Warnock is pushing to use that as a model for voting rights legislation—and he clearly got the attention of many of his fellow Senate Democrats.
The Senate’s debt ceiling deal involved passing one bill to allow the Senate to pass another bill that had the debt ceiling increase. The trick is, the first bill had to get 60 votes, overcoming a filibuster, in order for the second bill to pass with 50 votes. Ten Republican senators had to sign on for the first bill, and 14 of them did. But 10 Republican senators would not have just plain voted to raise the debt ceiling. No, it doesn’t make a lot of sense, but that’s the toxic combination of today’s Republican Party and Democratic deference to Senate traditions. And Warnock used the maneuvering to change the subject powerfully to voting rights.
“We think it’s so important that we change the rule in order to save the economy,” Warnock told NBC News on Tuesday. “Well, the warning lights on our democracy are blinking right now, and we seem unwilling to respond with the same urgency to protect the democracy that we have to protect the economy.”
The thing is, as Warnock knows, many Republicans did want to prevent the U.S. government from defaulting on its obligations and completely tanking the economy. They weren’t willing to openly vote on the measure that would prevent that from happening, but the end goal was important enough to enough of them to engage in some legislative shenanigans to make it happen. By contrast, there are not 10 Republican senators who want to save U.S. democracy by strengthening voting rights.
Again, Warnock knows this. But by talking about it publicly—including giving a powerful speech on the Senate floor (watch it below) laying out his hesitation about voting to raise the debt ceiling despite inaction on voting rights—he’s sending a message about just how important this is to find the way to overcome that.
In his speech lashing the decision to bend the rules for the debt ceiling but not for voting rights, Warnock emphasized the history of Republicans admitting that they don’t want everyone to vote—placing the pressure squarely on Democrats to get voting rights done. In a blistering passage, he dismantled the rhetoric of bipartisanship when it comes to basic human and civil rights.
“Second thing I said to my Democratic colleagues today is that while we cannot let our Republican friends off the hook for not being equitable governing partners, if we are serious about protecting the right to vote that’s under assault right now, here’s the truth: It will fall to Democrats to do it. If Democrats alone must raise the debt ceiling, then Democrats alone must raise and repair the ceiling of our democracy. How do we in good conscience justify doing one and not the other? Some of my Democratic colleagues are saying, ‘But what about bipartisanship? Isn’t that important?’ I say of course it is. But here’s the thing we must remember. Slavery was bipartisan. Jim Crow segregation was bipartisan. The refusal of women’s suffrage was bipartisan. The denial of the basic dignity of members of the LGBTQ community has long been bipartisan. The Three-fifths Compromise was the creation of a punitive national unity at the expense of Black people’s basic humanity.
“So when colleagues in this chamber talk to me about bipartisanship—which I believe in—I just have to ask, ‘At whose expense?’ Who is being asked to foot the bill for this bipartisanship, and is liberty itself the cost? I submit that that’s a price too high and a bridge too far.”
Following Warnock’s Senate speech, Sen. Mark Warner announced his support for changing filibuster rules to pass voting rights legislation. Sen. Michael Bennet, too, moved toward support for filibuster reform. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer addressed voting rights on the Senate floor on Wednesday morning, amid reports that he would put off a Build Back Better vote into 2022 and push to pass voting rights legislation before the end of 2021. The question is still where Democrats would find the Republican votes to even allow a simple majority vote on voting rights—or if they can get every single Democrat, Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema included, on board to reform the filibuster.
The Senate’s debt ceiling deal involved passing one bill to allow the Senate to pass another bill that had the debt ceiling increase. The trick is, the first bill had to get 60 votes, overcoming a filibuster, in order for the second bill to pass with 50 votes. Ten Republican senators had to sign on for the first bill, and 14 of them did. But 10 Republican senators would not have just plain voted to raise the debt ceiling. No, it doesn’t make a lot of sense, but that’s the toxic combination of today’s Republican Party and Democratic deference to Senate traditions. And Warnock used the maneuvering to change the subject powerfully to voting rights.
“We think it’s so important that we change the rule in order to save the economy,” Warnock told NBC News on Tuesday. “Well, the warning lights on our democracy are blinking right now, and we seem unwilling to respond with the same urgency to protect the democracy that we have to protect the economy.”
The thing is, as Warnock knows, many Republicans did want to prevent the U.S. government from defaulting on its obligations and completely tanking the economy. They weren’t willing to openly vote on the measure that would prevent that from happening, but the end goal was important enough to enough of them to engage in some legislative shenanigans to make it happen. By contrast, there are not 10 Republican senators who want to save U.S. democracy by strengthening voting rights.
Again, Warnock knows this. But by talking about it publicly—including giving a powerful speech on the Senate floor (watch it below) laying out his hesitation about voting to raise the debt ceiling despite inaction on voting rights—he’s sending a message about just how important this is to find the way to overcome that.
In his speech lashing the decision to bend the rules for the debt ceiling but not for voting rights, Warnock emphasized the history of Republicans admitting that they don’t want everyone to vote—placing the pressure squarely on Democrats to get voting rights done. In a blistering passage, he dismantled the rhetoric of bipartisanship when it comes to basic human and civil rights.
“Second thing I said to my Democratic colleagues today is that while we cannot let our Republican friends off the hook for not being equitable governing partners, if we are serious about protecting the right to vote that’s under assault right now, here’s the truth: It will fall to Democrats to do it. If Democrats alone must raise the debt ceiling, then Democrats alone must raise and repair the ceiling of our democracy. How do we in good conscience justify doing one and not the other? Some of my Democratic colleagues are saying, ‘But what about bipartisanship? Isn’t that important?’ I say of course it is. But here’s the thing we must remember. Slavery was bipartisan. Jim Crow segregation was bipartisan. The refusal of women’s suffrage was bipartisan. The denial of the basic dignity of members of the LGBTQ community has long been bipartisan. The Three-fifths Compromise was the creation of a punitive national unity at the expense of Black people’s basic humanity.
“So when colleagues in this chamber talk to me about bipartisanship—which I believe in—I just have to ask, ‘At whose expense?’ Who is being asked to foot the bill for this bipartisanship, and is liberty itself the cost? I submit that that’s a price too high and a bridge too far.”
Following Warnock’s Senate speech, Sen. Mark Warner announced his support for changing filibuster rules to pass voting rights legislation. Sen. Michael Bennet, too, moved toward support for filibuster reform. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer addressed voting rights on the Senate floor on Wednesday morning, amid reports that he would put off a Build Back Better vote into 2022 and push to pass voting rights legislation before the end of 2021. The question is still where Democrats would find the Republican votes to even allow a simple majority vote on voting rights—or if they can get every single Democrat, Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema included, on board to reform the filibuster.