Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are preparing to take one more big swing at voting rights. They may end up hitting their base with a huge letdown.
The House will return to Washington later this month to vote on updated legislation to restore key provisions of the Voting Rights Act that the Supreme Court struck down in 2013. Across the Capitol, a small group of Democratic senators are closing in on a compromise on separate but related set of more immediate voting reforms they think could unify the party, if not get any new Republican votes.
But for either effort to bear real fruit, a huge shift would have to take place — one that some in the party fear could be impossible: Convincing Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) and other Democratic moderates to back a change to Senate rules.
Schumer hasn’t shown his hand on any potential changes to the filibuster that’s currently stymieing the party’s elections bills, saying only that “everything is on the table.” But in an interview Wednesday, the Senate majority leader said he remains hopeful Congress can act on voting rights.
And at the New York Times, “As Congress Recesses, Democratic Successes Do Not Include Voting Rights”