Top Biden ally pleads with him to scrap filibuster for election reform

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Rep. Jim Clyburn said it’s time for the president to embrace more aggressive changes to the Senate rules.

After months of setbacks and gridlock on voting rights, one of President Joe Biden’s top allies in Congress is calling for him to support amending the Senate filibuster.

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) told POLITICO Biden “should endorse” the idea of creating a carveout to the legislative filibuster in the Senate for legislation that applies to the Constitution. In effect, the reform would make it possible for Democrats to pass their sweeping elections reform bill and another bill reauthorizing key sections of the 1965 Voting Rights Act with just Democratic support.

It’s a sentiment the congressman says he’s shared with White House counselor Steve Ricchetti and Office of Public Engagement Director Cedric Richmond as well. “I’ve even told that to the vice president,” Clyburn said. Continue reading.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s big test: Shepherding election reform

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The Minnesota Democrat faces the mammoth task of leading the push for the sweeping legislation in the Senate. 

WASHINGTON – The massive election reform measure that Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota is trying to shepherd through a crucial test in the Senate has all the makings of a moonshot: hard to achieve and fraught with complications.

For “anyone who is serious about trying to get something done to make it easier for people to vote … we’re ready to go,” Minnesota’s senior senator said in an interview.

Dubbed the For the People Act, the bill affects topics from voter registration to absentee ballots to campaign finance to ethics laws. Republicans charge that it’s an unconstitutional attempt by the federal government to wrest control of elections from states. Continue reading.