“Reconciliation” Process

Essential To Pass Voting Rights Legislation, Which Republicans In Senate Supported Unanimously In 2006!

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Voting Rights legislation is essential if America is to remain a democracy.

The 15th, 19th, 23rd, 24, and 26th Amendments guarantee voting rights, as did the Voting Rights Act of 1965, passed as part of the Great Society of Lyndon B. Johnson.

The Supreme Court in 2013 weakened the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County V Holder, and have caused the deterioration of voting rights, now accelerated by many states in the South and Midwest and Mountain West creating all kinds of restrictions, designed to prevent minority groups, the elderly, college students, and the disabled from ability to vote.

This MUST be reversed by dropping the filibuster and allowing “reconciliation” to be used to insure voting rights are restored to what they were.

The shocking thing about this whole matter is that the Republican party unanimously supported renewal of the Voting Rights Act in 2006 under the Presidency of Republican George W. Bush! The vote was 98-0, so therefore, there is no excuse for Republican opposition other than they have allowed their party to be hijacked by Donald Trump and his supporters.

But it is still hard to believe that at least some Republican senators–such as Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, and others who voted to convict Donald Trump, and also those Republican Senators retiring in 2022, should by their consience, if they have one, support the voting rights legislation promoted now–the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and the Freedom To Vote Act.

Nineteen states have passed 34 restrictive laws, which would be negated by passage of the above two proposed laws. Meanwhile, 25 states have passed 62 expansive laws, and the right to vote should be the same in every state, so action to overcome restrictions is essential!

Voting Rights Takes Precedent Over The “Build Back Better” Bill!

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A major aim of the Biden Presidency has been to promote “social infrastructure” through the “Build Back Better” legislation.

However, it has been tied up in process due to the opposition of Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema Of Arizona, and it is now clear that it cannot be accomplished before the end of this year, sadly.

But the aim now is to promote the guarantee of Voting Rights, preventing Republicans from destroying the suffrage rights of millions of Americans, so the push is on to make certain that the basic and fundamental right to vote is insured.

It is a crucial battle for the survival of democracy, and it can be accomplished by “reconcilation”, as long as there are 50 votes, and it is hoped possibly one or two Republican Senators, such as Lisa Murkowski of Alaska or Susan Collins of Maine, will cross the aisle if it determines the basic prevention of the loss of voting rights!

Fingers are crossed that this can be accomplished!

The US Senate Parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough: Most Powerful Figure In Senate Deliberations!

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Very few people are aware of the job of the US Senate Parliamentarian, or the holder of that position, Elizabeth MacDonough.

She has held that job since 2012, appointed by then Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

The first woman to hold that position, she is the sixth person to be in that job, since it was created in 1935.

She is designed to be a nonpartisan official who determines what and what cannot be done under the “reconciliation” process in the Senate, which can allow certain budgetary situations to move forward without meeting the filibuster requirement of sixty senators.

Without that, very little could be done in a Senate which for only the fourth time in history has seen an evenly divided Senate.

The 47th Congress (1881-1883); 83rd Congress (1953-1955); and the 107th Congress (2002-2003) are the only times before the 117th Congress, where we have seen such a situation.

So this woman, Elizabeth MacDonough, highly respected, has tremendous power over the Joe Biden agenda, and now has made clear that immigration reform cannot be utilized under “reconciliation”, a blow to action on that issue, which seems unlikely to be able to be overcome!