Leader of the majority of the Senate Charles Schumer
Chuck Schumer Trump allies line up for potential bruising for primaries Where To, Puerto Rico? Democrats are making low-tax states an offer that they MORE should refuse (DN.Y.) on Wednesday sharply criticized new bills offered by Republicans in dozens of states that would place restrictions on the ability to vote.
Schumer, who testified before the Senate Committee on a sweeping election reform bill, accused Republicans of “ disfranchising ” voters after losing the 2020 election.
‘Shame on them … This is furious. I would like to ask my Republican colleagues: why are you so afraid of democracy, ”said Schumer.
Schumer also spoke on the Senate floor about proposed election laws, accusing Republicans of embracing the former President Trump
Donald Trump The Hill’s Morning Report – Biden relies heavily on gun control Justice Dept. faces risks, rewards with riot allegations Online harassment is ugly and routine for women in journalism MORE‘s “big lie” – that the 2020 election was “faked” and stolen from him.
“They don’t even stand up to protect the sacred right to vote. Shame, shame, shame, all of them,” he added.
The Brennan Center for Justice found that as of mid-February, Republicans in 43 states had proposed more than 250 bills that would make it more difficult to vote, including by proposing changes to postal or voter identification requirements.
An analysis by the Washington Post found that the changes could represent the biggest shift in ballot access since Reconstruction, limiting the ability to vote for tens of millions of Americans.
Schumer’s comments come as the Senate Committee is holding a hearing on the For the People Act, a sweeping bill that would overhaul the country’s elections. The bill passed by the House earlier this month without Republican backing and has no GOP co-sponsors in the Senate.
GOP leader of the senate Mitch McConnell
Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellDems plans to squeeze GOP over filibuster Biden allies, looks two-step infrastructure strategy Budowsky: Trump-McConnell war on voters and democracy MORE (Ky.), Speaking at the same hearing, called the bill “a solution in search of a problem” and an “invitation to chaos” that would “create a nightmare” if it were signed into law.
“States are not at all trying to suppress voters. This is clearly an attempt by one party to rewrite the rules of our political system,” McConnell said.
Proponents of the states’ new voting laws claim they will be needed after the 2020 election, but, as the Post notes, many of the bills are being proposed in states that have seen no electoral fraud. Election experts have also repeatedly dismissed Trump’s allegations of widespread fraud, and his legal team has lost dozens of challenges.
Schumer, who testified before the Senate Committee, promised that the bill passed by the house would be “a priority” in the Democrat-controlled Senate, although the bill does not have the votes to pass with the legislative filibuster of 60 votes.
“Some of these suppression laws to voters in Georgia and other Republican states sound like Jim Crow reared his ugly head again,” Schumer said. “Jim Crow still seems to be with us.”