As It Was In 1965, Today We Cannot Rest. We Must Protect The Sacred Right To Vote.

This is not an easy time in America.

The situation in Afghanistan, culminating in yesterday’s terrorist attacks that tragically killed and wounded American servicemen and Afghan civilians, is a matter of immediate national attention. The continuing spread of the pandemic and natural disasters, including historic wildfires and floods, also deserve our attention and help.

But, I want to lay out briefly the need to ensure that we don’t lose sight of the urgent need to address voting rights in our nation.

The aggressive voter suppression laws being enacted by Republican-controlled state legislatures around the country threaten the ability to exercise the sacred right to vote by millions of Black, brown, and other minority voters, as well as the disabled, the elderly, and the young.

When the Senate returns in September, two critically important voting rights bills will be awaiting action — a revised version of S. 1, the Senate companion to H.R. 1, the For the People Act, which passed in the House in March, and H.R. 4, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act which passed in the House on Tuesday.

The revised version of S. 1 will override the state voter suppression laws enacted this year and establish fair rules for voting in federal elections. H.R. 4 will restore the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that was crippled by the Supreme Court in 2013 and protect against voter discrimination.

S. 1 and H.R. 4 are complementary. Both are necessary to deal with existing voter suppression laws and future voter discrimination.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has worked hard to push voting rights forward in the Senate and to reach an agreement on a revised S. 1. The agreement is expected to be in place when the Senate returns next month and will incorporate the proposals of Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), who has been opposed to the original S. 1.

Senate Democrats, however, still have yet to obtain the support of Senators Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) to bypass the filibuster rules to overcome the certain Republican filibuster against the voting rights legislation.

Without bypassing the filibuster rules, as has been routinely done in the past, voting rights legislation will die in the Senate.

The Senate has routinely changed its filibuster rules, with 161 statutes passed over the years that allowed legislation to pass the Senate without being subject to the filibuster.

This Saturday, citizens in Washington, DC and in cities and towns across the country will march to protect the right to vote. The March commemorates the 58th anniversary of the historic March on Washington on August 28, 1963, where the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. made his “I Have A Dream” speech.

This weekend, hundreds of organizations and many millions of Americans will join together to demand that Congress act now to pass essential voting rights legislation. The partnership and hard work of so many diverse organizations and citizens over this past year is a testament to the urgency of this situation.

More information on finding a march in your community and how to watch the DC march via live stream is here.

In 1965, as the Voting Rights Act was being held up by the House of Representatives, the Reverend Doctor King wrote these words: “We cannot rest. Laurels have not yet been earned. We must toil on during the hot sweltering summer months.”

That is what has been done this summer.

Now, the Senate must act.

It falls to President Biden and Senator Schumer — two of the three most powerful leaders in the country — to do everything in their power to persuade Senators Manchin and Sinema to stand on the right side of history and support the steps necessary to enact voting rights legislation and protect our democracy.

As it was in 1965, the sacred right to vote for millions of Black and brown voters and other minorities hangs in the balance.