Voting Rights Battle Ahead in Early 2022
Advocates to protect the vote have been pushing Biden and Congress to move ahead affirmatively for months.
Advocates to protect the vote have been pushing Biden and Congress to move ahead affirmatively for months.
In an August 30 statement on the Afghanistan withdrawal, Congresswoman Lee said: “Twenty years ago, it was clear that rushing into war without a clearly defined mission and exit strategy would risk perpetual war. The Special Inspector General of Afghanistan Reconstruction clearly illustrated in recent reports that ‘U.S. officials rarely had even a mediocre understanding of the Afghan environment, much less how it was responding to U.S. interventions,’ and that this ignorance often came from a ‘willful disregard for information that may have been available.’ In a world where the threat of terrorism cannot be ignored, hopefully we will learn the lessons from the past two decades and not repeat our mistakes.”
On the 58th anniversary of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech and the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, marchers focused on voting rights. Voting rights have reemerged as a somewhat unexpected political battlefield as Republicans across the country pass new laws placing barriers in front of the ballot box.
The U.S. House passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act in March, but the bill has stalled in the even-divided Senate. The measure would prohibit federal, state, and local law enforcement from racial, religious, and discriminatory profiling.
“The right to vote is the foundation of American democracy. Free and fair elections that reflect the will of the American people must be protected and defended,” President Biden remarked during the Martin & Coretta Scott King Unity Breakfast. “But many Americans, especially people of color, confront significant obstacles to exercising that fundamental right. These obstacles include difficulties with voter registration, lack of election information, and barriers to access at polling places.”
“I pledge to fight hard to rid our ranks of racists and extremists,” Gen. Austin pronounced during his confirmation hearings. He also pledged to overturn several discriminatory bans on military service put in place by the previous administration. The confirmation vote cleared by a 93-2 margin – Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) were the lone no-votes.
President-Elect Joe Biden’s administration plans to support legislation offered by District of Columbia Democratic Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton that would ensure federal agencies advertise with minority-owned businesses, including the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA).
The first draft of the COVID-19 Senate stimulus bill focused money to bailout large corporations and the top one percent. But after days of negotiation that included President Trump big footing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the legislation was changed to focus more on the needs of main street Americans.
Excerpt: Democrats turned out in record numbers for Super Tuesday as many are citing their desire to remove President Trump from office as a motivating factor. In the Super Tuesday state of Virginia, primary turnout was the highest ever and surpassed the 2008 primary 12 years ago when former President Barack Obama challenged former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Over 23 percent of registered voters cast ballots on March 3rd.
Former NAACP President and five-term Congressman Kweisi Mfume won big in a Democratic primary contest to replace the late Congressman Elijah Cummings who passed away on October 17, 2019 at the age of 68.
Beginning later this year when federal agencies submit proposed budgets to one or more of the 12 Appropriations Committees, those requests now must include a line item detailing what they are spending with minority-owned businesses, which include black-, women- and other minority-owned media outlets.
“Some of us have been victims of the stain, the pain, the hurt of racism. In the 50s and during the 60s, segregationists told us to go back when we protested for our rights. They told ministers, priests, rabbis, and nuns to go back. The told innocent, little children seeking just equal education to go back,” said civil rights legend and Georgia Congressman John Lewis on the House floor during debate.
During an interview on the Scott Dworkin report, Rep. Gwen Moore said that President Trump “resigning is a dignified way for him to leave as opposed to being impeached or as opposed to being indicted or having the 25th amendment evoked. It’s really a very palliative approach to ask him to just go quietly and spare us all this pain.”
Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-43) issued a statement on voter fraud allegations in the 2018 midterm election for North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District. The results of the race – which were initially projected in favor of Republican Mark Harris who had a 905-vote lead over Democrat Dan McCready — are under investigation after evidence of illegal activity by operatives associated with Mark Harris’ campaign was uncovered.
Signers of the correspondence include civil rights organizations, labor, consumer advocates, and research institutes.