President Joe Biden will deliver a critical address Thursday afternoon, urging passage of vital legislation to protect voting rights as Republicans in state legislatures across the country cripple access to the ballot and enact laws that could literally nullify the will of the voters.
The President, having seen the actions of Republicans at the state and national level, will call for the Senate to carve out an exemption from the 60-vote majority filibuster in order to pass two critical bills: the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act.
The New York Times, reporting Biden’s expected remarks, calls the filibuster “a Senate tradition that has allowed Republicans to repeatedly block a major priority of Democrats.” The paper of record labels it “the most significant step he will have taken to pressure lawmakers to act on an issue he has called the biggest test of America’s democracy since the Civil War.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said he will begin the process of a filibuster carve out as early as Wednesday, with a possible vote on Monday, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
The President and Vice President Kamala Harris are expected to speak live beginning around 3:45 PM. You can watch below, on legitimate cable news channels, and on C-SPAN.
Watch live: