Senator Reverend Warnock Statement on Blocked Effort to Advance Consideration of the Freedom to Vote Act

Press Release

Today, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) issued the following statement after Senate Republicans blocked a procedural vote to allow the Senate to consider S.2747, the Freedom to Vote Act.

"When Republicans blocked consideration of the For the People Act in June, many observers thought that the fight to pass voting rights legislation was dead this Congress. But that wasn't true then, and it isn't true now.

"Working with other champions in the Senate, we got together to find common ground, and drafted and introduced the Freedom to Vote Act with the backing of 50 Senators--legislation that will secure our elections, address the corruptive influence of dark money in our politics, and ensure that no matter where you live, every American voter can have confidence that they can cast their ballot and it will be counted. These are principles that should garner broad, bipartisan support, and it's this work that made today's vote even possible.

"But once again, our Republican colleagues have blocked this procedural vote and denied the Senate the opportunity to even debate this important topic. There is wide agreement among Americans, Democrat and Republican, that something has gone awry with our democracy. What does it say about the world's greatest deliberative body that our colleagues refuse to have an open discussion about an issue Americans across the political spectrum are clamoring for Congress to address? Moreover, it is now crystal clear that there are members of the Senate who don't want to have an open debate about how to secure the right to vote for every eligible American. If Senators don't want to have a conversation about the state of our democracy that the American people can hear, don't the people deserve to know who these lawmakers are talking to instead? And, as an American family, if we agree that a pillar of our democracy is broken, shouldn't we work together to fix it? The American people should have very serious questions about why any lawmaker would prevent the Senate from taking up this critical conversation.

"We are in a 911 emergency for our democracy. Voting rights are preservative of all other rights, and they are the very foundation of our democracy--paving the way for our shared progress. As crushing voter suppression proposals sweep across the nation, undermining access to the ballot for countless Americans, Congress cannot stand idly by and allow the reckless obstruction of some to stand in the way of securing voting rights for the many.

"I have long maintained that voting rights is more important than preserving any Senate procedural rule. While today's vote may have failed, I remain steadfastly committed to passing voting rights legislation this Congress. Like my parishioner Congressman John Lewis, I believe that voting is a sacred undertaking, and we must keep marching until we secure the sacred right to vote for every eligible American. To that end, I look forward to connecting with my Democratic colleagues over the coming days and weeks to discuss the next steps we must take to restore the Senate and pass both the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

"Congress must pass voting rights, no matter what."

Source