Now Barack Obama backs Biden's bid to kill Senate filibuster: Calls it a tool to 'prop up Jim Crow' and says it cannot be allowed 'to be used to block efforts to protect our democracy'
Barack Obama joined the campaign to pressure Democratic senators into supporting voting rights legislation
He backed Joe Biden's demand to kill the filibuster, calling it a tool to 'prop up Jim Crow,' declaring his support in an op-ed published in USA Today
'I fully support President Joe Biden's call to modify Senate rules as necessary to make sure pending voting rights legislation gets called for a vote,' Obama wrote
Chuck Schumer is plotting a procedural gambit to bypass Republican opposition to starting debate on voting legislation
The House will combine the two voting bills stuck in the Senate into one piece of legislation, vote on it Thursday and then send it to the Senate
By coming to Senate as a 'message' from House, Schumer can bypass the 60-vote threshold needed to begin debate, saving him from a GOP filibuster
But his move only buys him time; he will still need 10 GOP votes for final passage
Democrats are lobbying Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema to support a change in Senate rules to pass the voting legislation
Biden goes to Capitol on Thursday to make a personal appeal
By Emily Goodin, Senior U.S. Political Reporter
Published: 20:35 EST, 12 January 2022 | Updated: 23:50 EST, 12 January 2022
Barack Obama joined the campaign to pressure Democratic senators into supporting voting rights legislation, backing Joe Biden's demand to kill the filibuster, calling it a tool to 'prop up Jim Crown.'
The former president, in an op-ed published in USA Today, writes the Senate filibuster 'has no basis in the Constitution' and arguing it was used by Southern senators to block civil rights legislation that disinfranchised black voters.
'I fully support President Joe Biden's call to modify Senate rules as necessary to make sure pending voting rights legislation gets called for a vote,' Obama wrote.
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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10396691/Barack-Obama-joins-Bidens-call-kill-Senate-filibuster-voting-bills.html
