Freshman Democratic Rep. Mondaire Jones of New York declared during a floor speech on Thursday that “white nationalists” in the U.S. Senate had utilized “the Jim Crow filibuster to block voting rights legislation.”
“As you just heard, we are living through the worst assault on the right to vote since the Jim Crow era. And yesterday on the Senate floor, white nationalists used the Jim Crow filibuster to block voting rights legislation. But they did not win the contest for the soul of our nation,” Jones said.
Rep. Mondaire Jones Outlines the Path Forward in the Fight for Voting Rights
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The self-described “progressive” made his comments after the legislation failed to clear a procedural hurdle on Wednesday in the face of Republican opposition. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, initially sided with his own party but then switched his vote due to procedural reasons, making the final vote tally 51-49.
Democrats had wanted to change the Senate rules in order to ram the legislation through, but Democratic Sens. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, both filibuster supporters, declined to help their party and the proposed rule change failed in a 52-48 vote.
“I want to commend @SenSchumer’s strong leadership on voting rights,” Jones tweeted on Thursday. “It’s been an honor working with him. While the force of reason and weight of history didn’t convince 52 Senators, he was right to force a vote that allowed the world to see today’s opponents of civil rights.”
Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri tweeted on Wednesday night, “The legacy of Jim Crow is alive and well in 2022. That’s all I have to say right now about Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema, and Senate Republicans.”