Martin Luther King III — a son of the late civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. — shared footage from a pro-voting rights protest in Phoenix, Arizona and directly called out Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) for her stance on the filibuster in the Senate, which is continuing to allow for a blockade of federal proposals to protect voting rights. The 100-member chamber’s filibuster rules demand that at least 60 Senators agree before moving forward on most bills including current pushes for voting rights, meaning that — no matter how fervently that she talks about her support for voting rights proposals — Sinema’s allegiance to the filibuster as it stands is enabling Republicans to block progress. King’s comments were succinct, asking:
‘[Senator Sinema] – Can you hear us? End the filibuster and give us the ballot!’
Check it out below or over at this link:
.@SenatorSinema – Can you hear us?
End the filibuster and give us the ballot! #DeliverForVotingRights pic.twitter.com/9U5KFf8lGB
— Martin Luther King III (@OfficialMLK3) January 15, 2022
President Biden has been among those pushing for a change to Senate rules that would allow for the passage of voting rights protections, but Sinema just won’t change her position. She has talked about the potential for bipartisan cooperation — but is allegiance to this ideal really more important for her than securing the rights of everyday Americans? Republicans in the Senate have proven that they’re mostly not interested in bipartisan cooperation on these voting rights initiatives, and Republicans in states around the country are continuing their crusade to enact suppressive new restrictions around the electoral process — and Sinema wants to talk, among other things, about bipartisanship. In standing by the filibuster, Sinema is joined most prominently (among the Democrats) by Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), another so-called moderate.
Last week, Senator Sinema claimed that the real threat to our democracy is “divisions.” Arizonans know better.
They know that divisions didn’t pass voter suppression laws in Arizona. Republicans did. Divisions didn’t try to overturn Arizona’s election results. Republicans did.
— Mondaire Jones (@MondaireJones) January 16, 2022
Sinema’s pro-filibuster position has faced plenty of opposition from fellow Democrats in office. Senate Rules Committee chairperson Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) asked: ‘Let me get this straight: 60-vote threshold was carved up 160 times so senators could pass Trump tax cuts, gas bill & Supreme [Court] Justices but when it comes to voting rights, “traditions” & “comity” mean you hug it tight, throw the voters under the senate desks & go home? No way.’ Without Sinema, changes to the filibuster provisions in the Senate can not move forward, because the current party breakdown in the chamber means that every Democrat would have to agree.
Let me get this straight: 60-vote threshold was carved up 160 times so senators could pass Trump tax cuts, gas bill & Supreme Ct Justices but when it comes to voting rights, “traditions” & “comity” mean you hug it tight, throw the voters under the senate desks & go home? No way.
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) January 13, 2022
Featured Image (edited) via Gage Skidmore on Flickr and available under a Creative Commons License
