Published on :
–
US President Joe Biden was in Atlanta, Georgia on Tuesday, January 11, to defend a vast reform of minority voting rights.
With our correspondent in Washington, Guillaume Naudin
If the laws are still blocked in the Senate, it is because of the rules of procedure and the reinforced majority to pass them. Yet very respectful of parliamentary procedure, Joe Biden announces that he wants to change the rules to pass electoral reform.
In the Senate American, we call it the “filibuster”. Instead of a simple majority, a qualified majority is needed, ie 60 votes instead of 51 to pass a text. A rule whose official purpose is to promote bipartisan compromise. Except that the filibuster is most often used to bury texts, as is the case with two bills supposed to guarantee access to the vote and the right to vote, against local laws which seek to limit them, especially for the minorities
The American president therefore took the political risk on Tuesday of attacking this Senate rule, because the presidential majority does not have enough votes to impose the text and even less manages to rally Republicans in favor of the reform.
“To protect our democracy”
It is therefore in the ” cradle Of Civil Rights, the city of Martin Luther King, that Joe Biden came to ask for an exception.
« Today, I say it clearly, to protect our democracy, I am for changing the rules of the Senate, as much as necessary, to prevent a minority of senators from blocking initiatives on the right to vote. When it comes to protecting majority rule in America, the majority should decide in the United States Senate. And I am announcing this after careful consideration, because the fundamental right to vote is the right from which all other rights derive. », Declared the American president.
What do we choose? Democracy rather than autocracy. Light rather than darkness. Justice rather than injustice. I know where I stand. I will not give in. I won’t give up. I will defend the right to vote and our democracy against all enemies, from the outside, and yes, from the inside. The question is, “Where is the institution of the United States Senate located?” Any senator, Democrat, Republican or independent will have to say where he stands. Not just for now, but for posterity
Joe Biden, the President of the United States
–
–
During his statement, the president addresses the Republicans who block the texts, but also the Democrats, some of whom are hesitant to change the rules, to ask them to take their responsibilities in front of posterity and thus vote for his electoral reform project. . ” History has never been kind to those who sided with restricting access to the vote », He hammered.
– .
