[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 163 (Tuesday, September 21, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S6558]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             VOTING RIGHTS

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, now a quick update on voting rights. Last 
week, several of my colleagues introduced the Freedom to Vote Act, a 
powerful new bill that would tackle head-on voter suppression, partisan 
gerrymandering, and the scourge of dark money.
  The legislation also responds to recommendations from election 
officials and includes new provisions to boost confidence in our 
elections, including critical anti-election subversion reforms, a 
flexible voter ID standard, and commonsense voter list maintenance 
requirements. This legislation will promote greater confidence in our 
elections, and I believe all Senators--Democrat, Republican, and 
Independent alike--should support the package.
  At the end of last week, I moved to place the Freedom to Vote Act on 
the legislative calendar, enabling me to schedule a vote on this bill 
in the immediate future.
  This week, my colleague Senator Manchin, who helped craft this 
legislation and relied on many of the good practices in West Virginia 
to do so--Senator Manchin, this week, is making an effort, a good-faith 
effort, to reach colleagues on the other side of the aisle to win 
support of the Freedom to Vote Act, and, in fact, he has been meeting 
with a number of Republican colleagues.
  We are committed to finding common ground, if there is common ground 
to be found. We look forward to hearing what changes Republicans might 
want to make. And if Republicans engage earnestly and honestly, we will 
work with them. The voting rights working group I convened earlier this 
year is prepared to help in that effort, but we need to move quickly. 
Time is of the essence.
  As Senator Manchin said earlier this year regarding congressional 
action on voting rights, ``Inaction is not an option.'' I agree with 
Senator Manchin in that regard.
  To that end, it is my intention to hold a vote for the Freedom to 
Vote Act here on the Senate floor. If Republicans are unwilling to move 
forward, Democrats will have to move on our own. Inaction from 
Republicans on voting rights is not an excuse to do nothing. We are 
going to take action to make sure we protect our democracy and fight 
back against the disease of voter suppression, partisan gerrymandering, 
and election subversion that is metastasizing at the State level.

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