[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 184 (Wednesday, October 20, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7107-S7108]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CLOTURE MOTION
The VICE PRESIDENT. Pursuant to rule XXII, the Chair lays before the
Senate the pending cloture motion, which the clerk will state.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
Cloture Motion
We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the
provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate,
do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to
proceed to Calendar No. 125, S. 2747, a bill to expand
Americans' access to the ballot box and reduce the influence
of big money in politics, and for other purpose.
Charles E. Schumer, Amy Klobuchar, Alex Padilla, Margaret
Wood Hassan,
[[Page S7108]]
Raphael G. Warnock, Ben Ray Lujan, Gary C. Peters,
Elizabeth Warren, Christopher Murphy, Tammy Duckworth,
Patrick J. Leahy, Sheldon Whitehouse, Michael F.
Bennet, Tim Kaine, Tammy Baldwin, Cory A. Booker,
Sherrod Brown.
The VICE PRESIDENT. By unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call
has been waived.
The question is, Is it the sense of the Senate that debate on the
motion to proceed on S. 2747, a bill to expand Americans' access to the
ballot box and reduce the influence of big money in politics, and for
other purposes, shall be brought to a close?
The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule.
The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 49, nays 51, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 420 Ex.]
YEAS--49
Baldwin
Bennet
Blumenthal
Booker
Brown
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Coons
Cortez Masto
Duckworth
Durbin
Feinstein
Gillibrand
Hassan
Heinrich
Hickenlooper
Hirono
Kaine
Kelly
King
Klobuchar
Leahy
Lujan
Manchin
Markey
Menendez
Merkley
Murphy
Murray
Ossoff
Padilla
Peters
Reed
Rosen
Sanders
Schatz
Shaheen
Sinema
Smith
Stabenow
Tester
Van Hollen
Warner
Warnock
Warren
Whitehouse
Wyden
NAYS--51
Barrasso
Blackburn
Blunt
Boozman
Braun
Burr
Capito
Cassidy
Collins
Cornyn
Cotton
Cramer
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Ernst
Fischer
Graham
Grassley
Hagerty
Hawley
Hoeven
Hyde-Smith
Inhofe
Johnson
Kennedy
Lankford
Lee
Lummis
Marshall
McConnell
Moran
Murkowski
Paul
Portman
Risch
Romney
Rounds
Rubio
Sasse
Schumer
Scott (FL)
Scott (SC)
Shelby
Sullivan
Thune
Tillis
Toomey
Tuberville
Wicker
Young
Mr. SCHUMER. I change my vote to no.
The VICE PRESIDENT. On this vote, the yeas are 49, the nays are 51.
Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn not having voted
in the affirmative, the motion is not agreed to.
The motion was rejected.
Motion to Reconsider
Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I enter a motion to reconsider the
failed cloture vote.
The VICE PRESIDENT. The motion is entered.
Mr. SCHUMER. Now, Madam President, I want to be clear about what just
happened on the floor of the Senate. Every single Republican Senator
just blocked this Chamber from having a debate--simply a debate--on
protecting Americans' right to vote in free and fair elections.
A little over a year ago, our country held the safest, most
accessible, most on-the-level elections in modern history. Our former
President could not accept defeat with grace. He refused to show
fidelity to the democratic process.
Instead, he told a Big Lie--a Big Lie that has now poisoned--
poisoned--the roots of our democracy. Capitalizing on this malicious
lie, his acolytes in conservative-controlled legislatures are now
passing laws across the country making it harder for younger, poorer,
urban, and non-White Americans to participate in our elections.
These laws are a direct attack on our fundamental liberties as
American citizens. If there is anything--anything--worthy of the
Senate's attention, it is unquestionably this.
And yet, given the chance to respond to an obvious problem, given the
chance to merely debate these latest threats against the franchise,
Senate Republicans voted unanimously--unanimously--to block any
opportunity for action.
Let there be no mistake, Senate Republicans blocking debate today is
an implicit endorsement of the horrid new voter suppression and
election subversion laws pushed in conservative States across the
country. By preventing the Senate from functioning as it was intended,
Republicans in this body are permitting States to criminalize giving
food and water to voters at the polls. Republicans are saying it's OK
to limit polling places and voting hours and shut the doors to more
expansive vote by mail.
I mean, my God. Why aren't all of my colleagues outraged by these
laws?
Frankly, we haven't heard a clear explanation from Republicans at all
because they refused for this Chamber to even hold a debate. It is
ludicrous--ludicrous--for them to simply state that the Federal
Government has no role to play here. They should read the Constitution
of these United States of America. It precisely empowers Congress to
regulate the ``times, places, and manners'' of holding elections. The
Congress--us. Sometimes the Federal Government has been the only
recourse when States conspire to shut voters out.
Madam President, the fight to protect our democracy is far from over
in the United States Senate. Senate Democrats have made clear that
voting rights is not like other issues we deal with in this Chamber.
This isn't about regular old politics. It is not just about even
regular old policy. It is about protecting the very soul of this
Nation, about preserving our identity as a free people who are masters
of our own destiny.
Republican obstruction is not a cause for throwing in the towel. As
soon as next week, I am prepared to bring the John Lewis Voting Rights
Advancement Act here to the floor.
What we saw from Republicans today is not how the Senate is supposed
to work. This is supposedly the world's greatest deliberative body,
where we debate, forge compromise, amend, and pass legislation to help
the American people. That is the legacy of this great Chamber. The
Senate needs to be restored to its rightful status as the world's
greatest deliberative body.
Now, in the aftermath of the Civil War, and as the Nation began the
colossal work of Reconstruction, America was more divided than at any
point in history. It was hard to imagine that a single nation could
endure after the bloody conflict of the four previous years.
At the time, the Republican Congress set to work on granting newly
freed slaves the basic freedoms that had long been denied to them.
These freedoms were eventually enshrined in the 14th and 15th
Amendments, granting due process and the right to vote to all citizens,
regardless of color or race.
Today, these amendments rank as some of the greatest and most revered
accomplishments in congressional history. They are proof that our
country is capable of living up to its founding promise, if we are
willing to put in the work.
But at the time, the minority party in both Chambers refused to offer
a single vote for any of the civil rights legislation put forward
during Reconstruction. Not one vote. Not one vote. They argued these
bills represented nothing more than the partisan interests of the
majority--a power grab, they said, from vengeful northerners.
But that didn't stop the majority. If expanding basic freedoms meant
going it alone, that was something they were willing to do. Today, we
feel the same way.
To the patriots after the Civil War, this wasn't partisan; it was
patriotic. And American democracy is better off today because the
patriots in this Chamber at that time were undeterred by minority
obstruction. Again, today, we feel the same way.
Today, the question before the Senate is how we will find a path
forward on protecting our freedoms in the 21st century.
Members of this body now face a choice. They can follow in the
footsteps of our patriotic predecessors in this Chamber, or they can
sit by as the fabric of our democracy unravels before our very eyes.
____________________