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Dems Push to Modify Filibuster Rules to Weaken Election Laws Before Midterms

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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Monday that he will schedule a vote this month to change the upper chamber’s rules, with the goal of moving forward with election reform.

In a letter sent to his coreligionists on Monday, Schumer said that, if the Republican opposition does not cooperate to move forward with this reform, he will schedule a vote before January 17 to change the Senate rules, specifically regarding the filibuster.

Until now, the White House and Democratic leaders in Congress had resisted trying to change that rule, but Schumer said Monday that now they are considering doing so to change the electoral rules before the November legislative elections.

“We must adapt. The Senate must evolve like it has many times before,” the Democrat said.

It remains to be seen how they would concretely change the Senate rules: according to The Hill, Democrats are discussing the possibility of creating an exception to the “filibuster” for laws that have to do with voting, or modifying the way in which that maneuver can be invalidated.

However, to make that change, Schumer will need absolute unity in the Democratic ranks, with 50 votes in favor, and it is not clear that he can get the support of the party’s two most centrist senators, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, who support the filibuster.

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