Senate GOP Blocks Voting Reform Bill

The For The People Act was not able to pass.

The For The People Act was not able to pass.

On Tuesday night, the United States Senate met to vote on the For The People Act, a voting rights bill presented by John Sarbanes on behalf of the Democratic senators designed to curb voter suppression efforts such as gerrymandering, expand voting rights, and combat the influence of partisan political donations. Unfortunately, the bill was met with a solid wall of GOP resistance.

When the time came to vote, the Senate was split perfectly down the middle, with 50 Democrats for and 50 Republicans against. As such, the bill failed to pass without the requisite 60 votes.

“Once again, Senate Republicans have signed their names in the ledger of history alongside Donald Trump, the big lie, and voter suppression to enduring disgrace,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said after the vote.

“We have several serious options for how to reconsider this issue and advance legislation to combat voter suppression,” Schumer continued. “We are going to explore every last one of our options. We have to. Voting rights are too important, too fundamental; this concerns the very core of our democracy and what we are about as a nation so we will not let it go. We will not let it die. This voter suppression cannot stand and we are going to work tirelessly to see that it does not stand,” he said.