Mitch McConnell's Comments About Voting Rights Have Twitter In A Tizzy
The Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act have been stalled in the United States Senate for months (via NPR) after states with Republican majority legislatures passed new laws limiting early voting days, making it harder for people to vote by mail, closing polling locations, and eliminating many drop boxes, according to the Brennan Center. Some states, like Georgia, will also allow these Republican-run legislatures to choose election officials, according to The New York Times, who many fear will be partisan.
The two voting rights bills being proposed could nullify some of these new state laws on a federal level — if they could pass the Senate. Republicans have signaled they will not vote for these bills, so the Democrats need to do it on their own, but they also need all 50 Senators to agree to modify the filibuster rule so that the bills can pass with just a majority vote rather than the 60-vote threshold the filibuster presents.
On January 11, 2022, President Joe Biden gave a rousing speech calling for these to pass, and also calling on the filibuster to change in order to get them across the finish line, according to The New York Times. However, even before Biden's speech as Democrats negotiated amongst themselves how and if they would create a filibuster exception for voting rights, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell tweeted that changing the Senate rules would shut out voters.
Mitch McConnell is called out on his voting rights tweet
When Mitch McConnell or one of his aides took to Twitter on Monday to try to convince Americans that changes to the filibuster leaves people without a voice, he got quite a response from fellow tweeters.
"If Democrats blow up Senate rules, millions of Americans will cease to have a voice in the Senate. Entire states would be shut out," McConnell tweeted. "Top Dems have floated breaking the rules for years now. This isn't about new voting laws. It's about silencing voters who inconvenience Democrats."
Within minutes, detractors of McConnell started clapping back with their own tweets, pointing out that millions of Americans already don't have a voice because more Democratic votes were cast for Senate than Republican voters, but since each state gets two senators, including small population states, the majority of voters are not heard.
"You do realize the Democratic senators represent millions of more in constituents than the Republican senators right? So, this isn't quite the own you think it is buddy," one tweeter said.
Another tweeter also pointed out that the majority has been silenced for years due to Republicans using the filibuster to block laws most Americans want. "You're silencing the majority and have been for years. Time for you to put the gag on and sit down."
Twitter finds Mitch McConnell's filibuster-voting rights tweet to be hypocritical
Not only did tweeters point out to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell that his comments on ignoring millions of voters didn't wash since millions of voters are already ignored, his stance on not modifying the filibuster at all and the idea of Democrats "blowing up the Senate" earned the ire of several prominent Democrats who just had to look at McConnell's actions as majority leader when he modified the filibuster to appoint Supreme Court justices with a 51-vote threshold, per USA Today.
Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Jamie Harrison clapped back with, "Save the damn crocodile tears. Americans lost their voice in the Senate when you denied Pres. Obama his constitutional right to appoint a [Supreme Court] justice [and] when YOU eliminated the 60 vote rule for lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court. Yes, we all know you are a hypocrite!"
MSNBC host Joy-Ann Reid also pointed out that McConnell had no trouble changing rules when Republicans were the Senate majority.
"You blew up the Senate in order to pack the Supreme Court with right wing ideologues, including right before a presidential election," she tweeted." YOU did that, Mitch. And your party is working overtime to lock Democratic voters out of the polls so your MAGA horde can get guaranteed wins."