As voting rights setback looms, Dems to refocus on Build Back Better provisions

Judy Woodruff:

Tonight on Capitol Hill, a vote some Democrats have waited years to hold on whether to advance a voting rights bill in the Senate.

But with Republicans ready to block it, Democrats are also poised to vote on whether to change the Senate's rules.

To help us get a sense of where things are standing — stand right now, I'm joined by our congressional correspondent, Lisa Desjardins, who is at the Capitol.

So, Lisa, remind us of what Democrats are trying to do here and what political waves this has been causing.

Lisa Desjardins:

As you say, Judy, the ultimate goal for Democrats here is to pass voting rights legislation, a national standard for how we vote across this country.

We know they don't have the votes for that. So what they are also trying to do is to try and change Senate rules in order to allow voting rights to go through via something called the talking filibuster. Here's a reminder of what exactly they want on the table, and we expect this today or tomorrow.

The idea here from Democrats right now is to force senators who want to block this voting rights bill to stand and talk their way through it, through that talking filibuster. Now, it would mean that the debate could be very long, but it could also mean that a final majority vote would happen once every senator who opposes the bill finished speaking.

Now, to pass that rules change, however, Judy, they need all 50 of their Democrats on board. And we know that at least one of them, Senator Joe Manchin, is not, and very likely another, Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, also opposes changing the rules by a partisan majority.

Now, both of these senators are experiencing some backlash from their fellow Democrats, and including some very political serious consequences, including for Kyrsten Sinema. She's had some endorsements withdrawn in the last day, including one from the group EMILY's List.

EMILY's List put out this press release about her, writing: "Sinema's decision to reject the voices of allies, partners and constituents who believe the importance of voting rights outweighs that of an arcane process means she will find herself standing alone in the next election."

Now, at the same time, Judy, for those Democrats also supporting this rules change, there's a risk as well for some of them who might have tough elections this year. That might not be a popular decision either, like Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire. So there are some questioning, why take this vote if they know it's going to fail?

To that, Senator Chuck Schumer says we have to get the senators on the record. Republicans are more than happy for Democrats to do that.

Judy Woodruff:

So, given all that, Lisa, what is next for Democrats?

Lisa Desjardins:

All right, let's take you through some of what Geoff reported about and what's going to happen here. This is another very critical period coming up.

Let's start with where we are right now. This is the voting rights discussion today, yesterday, if we want to look at a calendar, also going possibly tomorrow. Then, what happens next? We have got about five weeks where the Senate will be here and could try and work out a possible alternative to Build Back Better.

Right after those five weeks, you will see at the end of it there is a deadline for government funding on February 18. That deadline is important, because, immediately after that, the Senate is set to go on recess, following that recess, another very big date, on March 1, President Biden's State of the Union address.

Obviously, he wants to have some part of the Build Back Better agenda. Tonight, following his press conference, it does seem like there are more doubts about the child care tax credit. That's a big loss for some progressives, but talks will continue.

Judy Woodruff:

Lisa Desjardins are reporting on it all.

Thank you, Lisa.

Lisa Desjardins:

You're welcome.