Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is taking aim at former President Donald Trump ahead of a vote to begin debating voting rights legislation, saying he “poisoned our democracy.”
Schumer said on Monday the Senate will vote on Tuesday “to start debate on major voting rights legislation.”
He added, “It’s not a vote on any particular policy. Not a vote on this bill or that bill. It’s vote on whether the Senate should simply debate voting rights.”
The Senate majority leader then slammed the former president and claimed he “poisoned our democracy, lighting a fire under Republican state legislatures…they have launched the most sweeping voter suppression effort in at least 80 years.”
Schumer says Trump "poisoned our democracy, lighting a fire under Republican state legislatures…they have launched the most sweeping voter suppression effort in at least 80 years"
— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) June 21, 2021
Schumer then encouraged senators to read an article published by The New York Times, titled, “How Republican States Are Expanding Their Power Over Elections.”
“Can you read this article and still believe what Republican legislatures are doing is on the level…it makes you want to weep, what they’re doing,” Schumer said.
Schumer urges senators to read NYT.
— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) June 21, 2021
"Can you read this article and still believe what Republican legislatures are doing is on the level…it makes you want to weep, what they're doing."https://t.co/hhzijPSy87
According to the Brennan Center for Justice, at least 14 states enacted 22 new laws that restrict access to the vote between January 1 and May 14 of this year.
As of May, at least 61 bills with restrictive provisions were moving through 18 state legislatures.
The For the People Act passed the House and Democrats are now trying to move it through the Senate.
Newly released emails obtained by CNN from Democrats on the House Oversight Committee last week showed Trump told his allies to pressure then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen to join the effort and “consider false and outlandish allegations that the election had been stolen,” as the outlet reported.
According to CNN, Trump allies also pressured the Department of Justice to “investigate claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election.”
Last month, Trump continued to claim the election was “corrupt” and “was indeed The Big Lie.”
An Associated Press fact check explained, “To be clear, no widespread corruption was found and no election was stolen from Trump.”