For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, January 11, 2022
For More Information:
Ross Sherman, RepresentUs PR Strategist, 207-749-2660, rsherman@represent.us
ATLANTA – President Joe Biden called on the country to choose “democracy over autocracy” in a major voting rights speech Tuesday, urging senators to break the gridlock and clear the way for passage of the Freedom to Vote Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
Calls to restore the U.S. Senate to a functioning governing body have been building for months. As a RepresentUs analysis of senate rules in all 50 states shows, the U.S. Senate is uniquely dysfunctional. RepresentUs also outlined a brief historical analysis showing that Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has moved far more cautiously toward rules reform compared to former Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and similarly cautiously to former Majority Leader Harry Reid. Leader Schumer has clearly demonstrated that reform is the only option.
The Freedom to Vote Act is the most significant democracy reform bill since the 1965 Voting Rights Act. It would protect future elections from authoritarian attacks, stop dark money in our elections, end federal gerrymandering, make Election Day a holiday, require 15 days of early voting, and implement automatic voter registration in all 50 states.
RepresentUs CEO and Co-founder Joshua Graham Lynn issued the following statement in response:
“With warning signs blaring all around us that America’s democracy is in peril, President Biden posed the right question today: Will senators choose democracy or autocracy? Will they decide to restore the Senate to a functioning body, or let it atrophy amid crippling gridlock?
“Thanks to our unstoppable anti-corruption movement, we’re closer than ever to passing the Freedom to Vote Act, the most important piece of voter access legislation since the 1965 Civil Rights Act. Our RepresentUs members, our partners, and millions of American patriots of all political stripes have stood up for our democracy and mobilized at the grassroots level, including getting arrested outside of the White House. They’ve shown that the majority of Americans support this bill, demanded it move forward, and wouldn’t take no for an answer.
“But while we’re grateful that the president is more forcefully presenting this stark choice for lawmakers, time is running out. Many senators have stepped up in recent weeks to support rules changes to pass the Freedom to Vote Act, and we hope the president has a concrete plan to get the few remaining holdouts on board.”
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RepresentUs is the nation’s largest grassroots anti-corruption organization, bringing together conservatives, progressives, and everyone in between to pass anti-corruption laws in cities and states to stop political bribery, end secret money, and fix our broken elections.