(DCWatchdog.com) – Breaking Now: Just moments ago, to the delight of Republicans and the dismay of Democrats, United States Senator Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona Democrat, crushed what little chance President Joe Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) had of passing federal voting rights legislation in their attempt to supersede voting rights legislation passed at the state level by Republicans in states like Florida, Texas, and Georgia.
Sinema did so by announcing that she will not go along with her fellow Democrats in the United States Senate to kill the filibuster rule that will require 60 votes for passage of the proposed legislation that was just passed in the U.S. House of Representatives today.
According to National Review:
“Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema declared Thursday that she will not vote to suspend the filibuster in order to pass two voting bills championed by her party, all but guaranteeing that President Biden’s top legislative priority will fail.
“Speaking on the Senate floor, Sinema reiterated her well-established commitment to preserving filibuster and rejected the argument — made by her party leaders and Biden himself — that the rule represents an unacceptable obstacle to passing the Freedom to Vote Act and For the People Act.
“‘There’s no need for me to restate my longstanding support for the 60-vote threshold to pass legislation. There’s no need for me to restate its role in protecting our country from wild reversals of federal policy,’ she said before the chamber Thursday. ‘This week’s harried discussions about senate rules are but a poor substitute for what I believe could have and should have been a thoughtful public debate at any time over the past year.’” [emphasis added]
Procedurally, the filibuster rule can be discarded by a 51 vote majority in the Senate as the Republicans had done to push through Supreme Court nominees when Sen. Mitch McConnell was the Senate Majority Leader.
However, without Sinema’s vote, there is no way for the Democrats to reach the 51 votes needed to discard the filibuster rule and pass the voting rights legislation.
So, there is no chance the legislation can pass as currently drafted.
This is a breaking news report.
Sinema doubles down on filibuster support, dealing likely fatal blow to Dems' election billshttps://t.co/1sBVmzOOtq
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