Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said Wednesday on ABC’s “The View” that “cowardly” Republican governors and state legislatures were undermining democracy by passing election legislation.
Co-host Joy Behar said, “So last night Republicans unanimously blocked this key vote on the Democrats’ sweeping voting rights bill. They refused to even debate this legislation. So much is at stake here. Our own democracy, maybe. If you can’t get the Republicans on board, and you can’t break the filibuster, what happens now? Is there any clear path forward?”
Sanders said, “Let me just say this, I think what Republicans did yesterday is a total outrage. All over this country — look, we can disagree on issues, on health care, education, climate. We should not disagree whether or not Americans have the fundamental right to vote, whether you’re Black, whether you’re young, whether you’re Latino, whether you’re disabled. What Republican legislatures and governors are doing all over this country in a totally cowardly way is making it harder for people to vote. That’s how they think they’re going to win elections. That is an outrage. Congress has got to act.”
He continued, “We got 50 votes yesterday in an important proposal to protect voting rights. I do believe we should initiate an end for the filibuster on that bill. With the vice president, we can have the 51 majority votes that we need in order to protect the rights of American people to participate in a democratic political process.”
Sanders added, “This is not just another issue. This is the bedrock of American society. This is whether or not people can participate in the political process. What we’re seeing is Republican governors and legislatures are undermining the American democracy from one end of this country to the other, and that is unacceptable. There is a pressure, grassroots pressure being put on both Manchin and Sinema, and I hope that they will end up doing the right thing and supporting those of us who understand that we’ve got to act decisively right now.”
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