Jan. 12 (UPI) -- GOP Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday reacted to President Joe Biden's call for a voting rights bill with a speech on the Senate floor.
Much of McConnell's speech was spent attacking Biden.
"The President's rant, rant yesterday was incoherent, incorrect and beneath his office," McConnell said from the Senate floor.
He accused Biden of demagoguing voting laws that are "more expansive than what Democrats have on the books" in Biden's home state of Delaware.
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In his Atlanta speech Biden called on Congress to pass the Freedom To Vote Act. He said that bill would prevent voter suppression in Georgia in part by making sure there's full access to voting by mail and using ballot drop boxes.
Biden also said new Georgia voting laws would put Trump loyalists in charge of Georgia elections.
According to a White House transcript Biden said, "It's not just here in Georgia. Last year alone, 19 states not proposed, but enacted 34 laws attacking voting rights. There were nearly 400 additional bills Republican members of state legislatures tried to pass. And now, Republican legislators in several states have already announced plans to escalate the onslaught this year."
Reacting to Biden's speech, McConnell said, "Georgia has more days of early voting than Delaware or New York. Georgia has no-excuse absentee voting, which Delaware and New York do not have."
McConnell said it's a lie that Georgia's laws are greatly restricting early voting. He said he wants to keep the filibuster, which the GOP is using to block a vote on The Freedom To Vote Act.
