Pounding his hand in anger, President Joe Biden challenged senators Tuesday to change Senate rules and pass his highly partisan federalized voting legislation that Republicans warn could lead to widespread voter fraud.
And he kept repeating a lie that Democrats have repeatedly used in Georgia.
Biden told a crowd in Atlanta gathered on the grounds of Morehouse College and Clark Atlanta University that he’d been having quiet conversations with senators for months over the two bills — a lack of progress that has brought him criticism from activists in his own party.
“I’m tired of being quiet!” he shouted to the crowd.
But that didn’t stop him from repeating his dubious claim that Georgia’s voting integrity laws were “Jim Crow on steroids.”
Biden falsely claimed that the new voting standards close polling places early — a lie that has been repeatedly debunked by media outlets, including The Washington Post.
The president also said that Georgians would be arrested if they tried to share water with voters waiting in line to cast their ballots.
“Imagine passing a law saying you cannot provide water or food for someone standing in line to vote, can’t do that?” Biden claimed, without evidence. “C’mon! Or you’re going to close a polling place at 5 o’clock when working people just get off?”
Neither claim is true, critics point out.
The actual provision in the Georgia voting integrity law reads simply as follows —
(a) No person shall solicit votes in any manner or by any means or method, nor shall any person distribute or display any campaign material, nor shall any person give, offer to give, or participate in the giving of any money or gifts, including, but not limited to, food and drink, to an elector, nor shall any person solicit signatures for any petition, nor shall any person, other than election officials discharging their duties, establish or set up any tables or booths on any day in which ballots are being cast
(1) Within 150 feet of the outer edge of any building within which a polling place is
(2) Within any polling place; or
(3) Within 25 feet of any voter standing in line to vote at any polling place.
In his remarks, Biden invoked voting integrity to the civil rights battles of the 1960s.
“Today, we call on Congress to get done what history will judge,” Biden said. “Pass the Freedom To Vote Act.”
Biden’s speech was forceful, divisive, and explicit, referring to new efforts to secure voting safety as “Jim Crow 2.0.” For the first time, he directly advocated eliminating the Senate’s vote-blocking device called the filibuster — an important legislative check that, according to legend, former President George Washington once called the all-important “cooling saucer” for Congress.
Current rules require 60 votes to advance most legislation — a threshold that Senate Democrats can’t meet alone. The Democrats have 50 of the 100 Senate seats, and Vice President Kamala Harris can vote on Senate bills in the event of a tie. However, Republicans unanimously oppose the sweeping voting law changes.
There also aren’t enough Democratic votes to change the Senate rule. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., threw more cold water on the idea Tuesday, saying he believes any changes should be made with substantial Republican buy-in. And there aren’t any Republican senators willing to sign on.
“Not a single Republican has displayed the courage to stand up to a defeated president to protect Americans’ right to vote,” Biden said. “Not one. Not one.”
Congressional Democrats have written voting legislation that would usher in the biggest overhaul of U.S. elections in a generation by striking down election security hurdles.
Republicans say the changes are not aimed at fairness but at giving Democrats an advantage in elections.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky accused Biden of invoking “the brutal racial hatred of Jim Crow segregation to smear” the new state-level voting laws.
And it is coming from “a sitting president of the United States who pledged to lower the temperature and unite America,” McConnell said.
Some far-left activist groups boycotted Biden’s speech out of frustration over his inaction. Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams claimed she skipped the event because of a scheduling conflict, which she did not explain further.
The Associated Press contributed to this article