President Biden calls for filibuster changes to pass voting rights bills

The NPR Politics Podcast

NPR

Politics, Daily News, News

4.5 • 24.9K Ratings

🗓️ 12 January 2022

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In a fiery speech in Atlanta Tuesday, President Biden urged the Senate to change filibuster rules in order to pass new voting rights protections. But Senate Democrats are divided on filibuster changes, and voting rights advocates say fiery remarks are not enough in the wake of laws passed in 19 states that restrict ballot access.

This episode: White House correspondent Scott Detrow, White House correspondent Ayesha Rascoe, and political correspondent Juana Summers.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast.
0:05.1	I'm Scott Detro.
0:06.1	I cover the White House.
0:07.1	And I Sharasco, I also cover the White House.
0:10.1	And I'm Wanda Summers and I cover politics.
0:12.0	Alright, and we are coming to you a little later today, recording at 5.34 PM Eastern, because
0:17.9	President Biden just wrapped up a major speech on voting rights.
0:20.9	He and Vice President Harris went to a highly symbolic location, Atlanta, Georgia.
0:26.0	The state that saw a close Democratic wins in the 2020 cycle that gave the party the White
0:30.0	House and the Senate and the state where Republicans responded by passing voting restrictions.
0:35.1	And as Biden noted, it's the cradle of the civil rights movement, as he said.
0:39.5	He and Harris visited Martin Luther King Jr.'s grave before delivering their speeches.
0:44.1	Biden made major news in the speech.
0:45.6	He urged the Senate to change filibuster rules in order to pass two voting rights bills
0:50.7	that are stalled on the Senate.
0:52.3	I believe the threat to our democracy is so grave that we must find a way to pass these
0:58.0	voting rights bill.
0:59.5	Debate them.
1:00.5	Vote.
1:01.5	Let the majority prevail.
1:03.7	And if that bare minimum is blocked, we have no option but to change the Senate rules,
1:10.2	including getting rid of the filibuster for this.
	...

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