Biden talks tough on voting rights, but some activists doubt his ability to deliver


In a major speech at Morehouse College Tuesday, President Biden made a powerful rhetorical case for his two flagship voting rights bills and even called for changing the filibuster to help get them passed. Some commentators and activists, though, doubt the president's ability to get the bills through Congress.
The Hill reported Monday that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had "blocked an attempt by Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) to set up simple majority votes" on the two bills. With the failure of Schumer's proposal, Democrats will need 60 votes to pass the bill, a near-impossibility in the evenly divided Senate.
"While he really tried to frame it, if we're looking at it honestly, as good versus evil … he didn't really say what specifically he's doing beyond changing his stance on the filibuster to ensure that this gets across the line," Washington Post reporter Cleve R. Wootson Jr. said on the newspaper's YouTube stream of the speech.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In a Sunday column for The New York Times, Ezra Klein also expressed doubt that Congress would be able to pass Biden's voting rights agenda. "Neither bill, as of now, has a path to President Biden's desk," he wrote.
After Biden's massive Build Back Better bill failed to pass last month, there is immense pressure on the president to get his voting rights agenda through Congress. It could be his last chance to score a major political win, should Republicans re-take the House in the 2022 midterms.
A coalition of Georgia voting rights groups boycotted Biden's speech and urged the president not to deliver it, demanding "action," not "more photo ops." Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacy Abrams skipped the speech due to an unspecified schedule conflict, one of Abrams' aides told The New York Times. Abrams is the founder of the New Georgia Project, one of the voting rights groups that dismissed Biden's visit as "political platitudes" and "bland promises."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Grayson Quay was the weekend editor at TheWeek.com. His writing has also been published in National Review, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Modern Age, The American Conservative, The Spectator World, and other outlets. Grayson earned his M.A. from Georgetown University in 2019.
-
The state of Britain's Armed Forces
The Explainer Geopolitical unrest and the unreliability of the Trump administration have led to a frantic re-evaluation of the UK's military capabilities
By The Week UK
-
Anti-anxiety drug has a not-too-surprising effect on fish
Under the radar The fish act bolder and riskier
By Devika Rao, The Week US
-
Sudoku hard: April 21, 2025
The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
By The Week Staff
-
Judge threatens Trump team with criminal contempt
Speed Read James Boasberg attempts to hold the White House accountable for disregarding court orders over El Salvador deportation flights
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
Biden slams Trump's Social Security cuts
Speed Read In his first major public address since leaving office, Biden criticized the Trump administration's 'damage' and 'destruction'
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
El Salvador refuses to return US deportee
Speed Read President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador said he would not send back the unlawfully deported Kilmar Ábrego García
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Trump says electronics tariff break won't last
Speed Read The tariff exemptions on smartphones, laptops and other electronic devices are temporary, the administration says
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Man charged in arson attack on Pennsylvania's Shapiro
Speed Read Governor Josh Shapiro and his family were sleeping when someone set fire to his Harrisburg mansion
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
White House pushes for oversight of Columbia University
Speed Read The Trump administration is considering placing the school under a consent decree
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
Supreme Court backs wrongly deported migrant
Speed Read The Trump administration must 'facilitate' the return of wrongfully deported migrant Kilmar Ábrego García from El Salvador, Supreme Court says
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Two judges bar war-powers deportations
Speed Read The Trump administration was blocked from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport more alleged Venezuelan gang members
By Peter Weber, The Week US