Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren says some Republicans are using every possible means to maintain their position in power.
“Today, Republican opponents of democracy are exploiting every possible avenue to allow their party to maintain control,” Warren said during a speech on the Senate floor on the eve of the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attacks on Wednesday.
She further warned that the “American democracy is seriously at risk,” asking the Democrats in Congress to counter the restrictive voting rights legislations in states such as Texas and Georgia.
“Over the past year, these shameless efforts have become even more brazen,” Warren added. “Just as the former president was clear that he wanted to overturn the results of the election, Trump and his allies are entirely transparent about their goal of overturning future elections.”
After US President Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, the Republican lawmakers in many states decided to put restrictions on absentee voting and forbid drive-through voting, which they believe were the Democrats’ trump card in the elections.
The move came after former US President Donald Trump tried unsuccessfully to overturn the election based on unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud.
Meanwhile, New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer announced on Tuesday that the Democrats are determined to stop the Republicans from making it harder for certain portions of the population to vote, vowing to pass new voting rights legislation at the federal level.
“It’s an uphill fight. I don’t want to give anybody the illusion that we’re there, but hopefully we can get 50 of us to come to an agreement,” Schumer told reporters, asserting that Democrats “will not get any Republican cooperation.”
The Democratic initiative follows a green light from Biden to carve out filibuster in order to counter attempts by Republicans to gain more seats in the 2022 midterm elections to set the scene for the return of Trump to power in 2024.
Since Democrats hold majority in both chambers of Congress, bypassing the filibuster could mean effectively passing their desired voting rights.