[ad_1]
Washington – The House on Wednesday passed HR 1, a sweeping bill on government and electoral reform and a key legislative priority for the Democratic majority. The House also passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, although the vote was originally scheduled for Thursday. It was moved due to a security threat.
Two House sources confirmed to CBS News that there were talks about increasing House votes due to the threat. The United States Capitol Police “have received new and worrying information and intelligence indicating additional interest in the Capitol for the March 4-6 dates from a group of militiamen,” Staff Sgt. House weapons in a bulletin.
Acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman told lawmakers at a hearing Wednesday that “we have information about it” and “we have improved our security posture.” Concerns for the safety of lawmakers come after the Capitol was stormed by a crowd seeking to overthrow the presidential election on January 6, with several rioters seeking to harm or even assassinate lawmakers.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer released an updated schedule indicating the House would vote on George Floyd’s measure on Wednesday night instead of Thursday, allowing the House to wrap up its work week one more day early and not to sit on Thursday.
HR 1 carried by a vote of 220-210. No Republican voted to pass the bill, which is not surprising, as most Republicans strongly opposed it, saying they believe it amounts to federal overshoot and to a democratic takeover.
“This is something that is extremely popular among the American people. The American people want to reduce the role of big, dark, and special interest money in politics, which is preventing so many good things from happening. wants to see the end of voter suppression, ”President Nancy Pelosi said of HR 1 on Tuesday.
By a vote of 220-212, the House also voted to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, named after the Minnesota man who died in custody last year, after an officer knelt on his neck for several minutes, causing a wave of protests against racial violence and police brutality during the summer. Democratic Representatives Jared Golden of Maine and Ron Kind of Wisconsin voted against the legislation. Republican Representative Lance Gooden of Texas voted for the bill, but later tweeted that he did it by mistake.
The legislation would prohibit strangling and revise qualified immunity protections for law enforcement. A police reform bill was proposed by Republican Senator Tim Scott in the Senate last year, although it was blocked by Democrats who argued it did not go far enough. While the two bills have many similarities, they differ when it comes to qualified immunity protections for law enforcement officers.
After the House vote, civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump tweeted, “On behalf of the family of George Floyd, we are deeply satisfied and grateful for the leadership of the United States House. This represents a major step forward in reforming the relationship between the police and communities of color.
The House had already passed HR 1 in 2019 after Democrats regained a majority and passed the Police Justice Act last spring, but none of the bills were considered by the Senate-controlled Senate. republicans. Democrats now have a slim 50-seat majority in the Senate, but most laws require 60 votes to move forward. The bills are unlikely to win the support of ten Republican senators, so their the prospects for a passage to the Senate are bleak.
HR 1, known as the “For the People Act,” would overhaul laws on government ethics and campaign finance, and seek to strengthen voting rights by creating automatic voter registration and expanding the number of voters. ‘access to early and absent voting. The vote on the bill comes as Republican-controlled state legislatures across the country seek to restrict voting rights, including measures to limit postal voting and impose stricter voter identification requirements.
“We believe HR 1 must pass because lawmakers in Republican states, concerned about their losses, whether in their own state or in the country, are redoubling their efforts to make voting more difficult for people,” said Steny, House Majority Leader. Hoyer told reporters on Tuesday.
The Supreme Court, which has a Conservative 6-3 majority, is also considering two Arizona laws that restrict access to the vote, which Democrats say disproportionately affects minority voters. If the court upholds these laws, it could allow legislatures to impose even more restrictive voting laws and a higher standard on litigants seeking to challenge them.
Progressives argued that the Senate should eliminate filibuster, which would allow legislation to advance by simple majority, in order to push through their key priorities. Some Democrats argue it’s important to remove filibuster, especially so that voting rights laws can be passed, such as the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, which would reinstate the provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act overturned by the Supreme Court. Former President Barack Obama called to eliminate systematic obstruction so the voting rights laws can be passed by the Senate during its eulogy at Lewis’s funeral last summer.
Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock has suggested there may be a limited exception to the filibuster rules for voting and civil rights bills. Warnock was elected to represent Georgia in a January special election, and the Republican-controlled state legislature recently introduced bills to make early voting and postal voting more difficult.
“The right to vote preserves all other rights, and we must do all we can to preserve the voice of the people in our democracy,” Warnock told reporters Tuesday. “I think the issues are urgent enough to leave all options on the table.”
However, Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have expressed their opposition to the elimination of filibuster. Manchin said on Monday he would “never” change his mind about ending the filibuster.
“Never! Jesus Christ! What is it that you never understand?” Manchin said.
Nikole Killion and Brian Dakss contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
Source link