On Friday, the President of the United States, Joe Biden, vowed to fight for police reform legislation and stalled voting rights. Biden was attending the South Carolina State University graduation ceremony. He pledged even the harsh reality that months of debate with representatives failed to move the move near to becoming law. The president spoke at the historically Black school one day after acknowledging that his approximately $2 trillion environmental and social bill was unlikely to become law this year, as GOP leaders collectively oppose the spending.
Moreover, Biden mourned Republican opposition that kept voting rights bills from approving in the fifty-fifty senate following approval from the House. He blamed GOP for refusing to even allow the bills even for debate. However, he said that this battle was not over. But the Democrats will keep up to fight until the bill’s passage.
BREAKING: President Biden says there’s nothing “more important” domestically than voting rights. All across the country Republicans are trying to make it harder to vote because they know they can’t win elections fairly. RT TO URGE DEMOCRATS TO PASS A VOTING RIGHTS BILL!
— Occupy Democrats (@OccupyDemocrats) December 16, 2021
Sacred Right to Vote
The pledge of the president to keep pushing to protect the sacred right to vote comes as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and similar groups arose angry with the White House over the stagnation on the matter. In addition, voting rights are a priority for Democratic leaders moving into the midterm elections of 2022 after GOP-controlled legislatures approved a flood of restrictive new voting laws.
The president vowed similar backing for police reform, another problem crucial to the U.S. Black community after a series of incidents when police killed Black men, including George Floyd’s death in 2020 after a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for around nine minutes. Furthermore, the House approved a sweeping police reform move earlier this year in reaction to the killing of Floyd, but some months of talks among a bipartisan group of senators failed to produce a bill. Nevertheless, the Democratic president pledged to keep pressing for police reform.
Source: Web
Why the delay for Clyburn?
On Friday, Senate Democrats hunched privately, as they have for some weeks, discussing with legislative experts about ways to adjust the filibuster rules of the chamber so they can push previous GOP opposition and approve election and voting bills before the 2022 midterms. Still, no decisions reached, but senators claim that they are making progress. Clyburn told reporters that he and the president planned a gathering in South Carolina, and they believed that the Friday’s ceremony would serve.
The meeting was important for both leaders because it was the first instance Joe Biden visited South Carolina as a president, where the public support of Clyburn credited with encouraging Biden to the presidential nomination for the Democratic party. Biden secured a public endorsement from Clyburn, after which many Black American voters realized that Biden would be the candidate who would stand up for their rights and interests.
Black voters in the U.S. states, especially South Carolina, were a crucial part of the alliance that helped the Democratic president win the election. The president also vowed to help wipe out racism and hate and discussed his admiration for historically Black colleges and universities. Biden visited at an anxious time for his agenda, with the future of his $2 trillion environmental and social spending package in doubt.
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