Joe Biden agenda struggles as voting rights defeat looms

Washington: US President Joe Biden faces internal dissent on the eve of his first anniversary in office, with demoralised Democrats urging him to reset his agenda or risk a wipe-out at this year’s midterm elections.

After a series of political setbacks last week – and the prospect of an almost certain defeat tomorrow over voting rights – a new Gallup poll has also shown a dramatic shift in the past 12 months of voters increasingly leaning towards the Republicans.

US President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris in Atlanta, Georgia last Tuesday pushing for voting rights reform.Credit: AP

“There is a good deal of frustration that things aren’t getting done, and we’ve got to get this thing back on track” said Ohio congressman Tim Ryan, echoing concerns raised by other prominent Democrats activists, faith leaders and politicians this week. “We’re not doing good enough.”

The unrest comes as Biden faces another hit over one of his central election promises: to reform voting rights in the America in the wake of his predecessor, Donald Trump.

Senators returned to Washington on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT) to begin debating two bills designed to safeguard future elections, protect election workers from unlawful intimidation and expand opportunities to vote through a range of measures, such as postal voting.

However, getting those bills through Congress would require a controversial change to the Senate’s so-called filibuster rule, in which a “super majority” of 60 votes is needed to advance most legislation.

Democrats, who only have 50 votes in the chamber – the same as Republicans – are now seeking to reduce that threshold but face fierce opposition among GOP Senators and within party ranks.

“No one denies the path ahead is an uphill struggle,” the Democrats’ Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the floor of the chamber as he opened up today’s debate.

“Republicans have been clear they will entertain no bipartisan compromise on voting rights, but long odds are no excuse for this chamber to avoid this important issue.”

Democrat Kyrsten Sinema.Credit: AP

While Republicans are set to block any attempts to change the filibuster, attention has been focused intently on two key Democrats – Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia – both of whom also made it clear last week that they were not on board with the plan.

“These bills help treat the symptoms of the disease, but they do not fully address the disease itself,” Sinema said last Thursday, moments before Biden was due to arrive at Capitol Hill for a meeting with Democrats to urge them to back the legislation.

“I will not support separate actions that worsen the underlying disease of division affecting our country.”

This, in turn, opened up further divisions in Democratic ranks, with political action group EMILY’s List – one of the largest financial contributors of pro-choice Democratic candidates – announcing on Tuesday night that it would withdraw their support of Sinema “if she cannot support a path forward for the passage of this legislation.”

“Electing Democratic pro-choice women is not possible without free and fair elections,” the group said in a statement.

The family of Dr Martin Luther King also used Monday’s annual celebration of Dr King’s life, known as “MLK Day”, to lash out at the rebel senators.

Martin Luther King, Jr, marches across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, on March 21, 1965,Credit: AP Photo

“History will not remember them kindly,” said Martin Luther King III, the oldest living son of the civil rights leader.

While the opposition to tweak the filibuster was not unexpected, it nonetheless represents a blow for Biden, who will hold a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, US time, to mark his first full year in office.

Twelve months since his inauguration, the President is under pressure on multiple other fronts, with COVID soaring in the US, consumer prices for food, fuel and furniture on the rise, and the threat of an invasion of Ukraine by Russia setting off a crisis in Europe.

Among those now urging Biden to reset the agenda is his former presidential candidate rival, Bernie Sanders, who has repeatedly warned this month that the Democrats needed to make a “course correction” or risk losing more working people to the Republicans.

Congressman Tim Ryan agreed on Tuesday, urging the administration to focus more on issues that matter to voters, such a tax cuts or dealing with America’s growing fentanyl crisis.

And US faith leaders have also raised concerns, not just with the slow pace of voting rights reform, but also about the party’s internal fighting.

“The Democrats’ fight right now is not with Republicans - it’s among themselves, so the Democrats need to make sure that they have their own house in order,” prominent Episcopal Bishop Reginald Jackson told CNN.

The latest Gallup poll shows the Republicans with a five point lead over the Democrats in the last quarter of 2021 – a massive shift since the first quarter of the year when the Democrats had a nine-point edge over the GOP. The 14-point shift represents one of the biggest calendar year swings in 30 years of Gallup tracking.

Republican Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell accused Democrats of being “in the thrall of radical activists.”

“We have inflation and rapid violent crime, a border crisis and possibly a war on the European continent,” McConnell said during the debate today.

“But rather work on any of that, Democrats want to mark their own legacies with a reckless, reckless procedural vote that they know will fail.”

A vote is expected on Wednesday, US time.

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