Schumer promises filibuster debate if voting rights bill doesn't advance

Jan. 3 (UPI) -- Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., promised in a letter to his Democratic colleagues on Monday to call a vote possibly changing Senate rules on the filibuster if Republicans block a vote on voting rights.

Schumer said in the letter that the fight for access to the ballot is as "old as the Republic" but changing filibuster rules to pass a new federal voting rights bill will take a united front, something Schumer currently doesn't have.

"Make no mistake about it: this week Senate Democrats will make clear that what happened on January 6th and the one-sided, partisan actions being taken by Republican-led state legislatures across the country are directly linked, and we can and must take strong action to stop this anti-democratic march," Schumer said in the letter.

Democrats have complained that new voting rules in states like Georgia, under Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and Texas under Republican Gov. Greg Abbott have diluted the voting power of minorities. In November, the Justice Department sued Texas over its voting changes, saying the rules "disenfranchise eligible Texas citizens who seek to exercise their right to vote."

Schumer said Senate rules like the filibuster were built into the Constitution to protect the rights of the minority and foster debate, but today have been weaponized to shut down debate "to obstruct and embarrass the will of the majority, something our Founding Fathers explicitly opposed."

Republicans have argued against the Democratic proposed federal voting rules as a government overreach.

Democrats, though, would need all of their Senate colleagues to agree with a change in filibuster rules, which could include a carve-out for voting rights legislation. Moderate senators Joe Manchin, D-W.Va, and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz. are currently on the record of being against 60-member filibuster rule changes.