Activists are urging Joe Biden to endorse important changes to the Senate filibuster rules that would protect the voting rights of Democrats.
According to reports, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris supported the legislation and expressed that it's their top priority. However, both have not explicitly backed the changes to filibuster rules that could allow Democrats to pass the Freedom to Vote Act.
Voting rights activists want Joe Biden to act fast
On Tuesday, a group of 100 activities flocked to the White House to urge the POTUS to resolve the matter immediately since Senate Democratic leaders are scheduled to bring the Freedom to Vote Act bill into federal law on Wednesday. But in order for the bill to become federal law, it needs to garner 60 votes to get past the Republican filibuster.
The Republicans previously filibustered other major voting rights bills that are supposed to counteract over a dozen new laws GOP-controlled state legislatures have enacted to restrict the public's right to vote.
Ben Jealous, the president of People For the American Way, released a statement explaining their goal.
"We have 51 votes to pass urgently-needed voting rights legislation. A minority of senators are imposing the power of the filibuster, saying there will be no debate, there will be no vote. In an instance like that, the only thing that really breaks through is when the president of the United States himself calls on the Senate to fix or nix the filibuster," he said via the Huffington Post.
Virginia Kase Solomon, the CEO of the League of Women Voters, said that Biden knows how to get things done when the issue is important to him.
So, Solomon and the other activists decided to visit the White House to remind the POTUS that he has the power to move political will when he wants to.
Joe Biden waiting for Senate's decision on Freedom to Vote Act
However, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the only time that Biden would consider endorsing changes to the filibuster rules is if the Freedom to Vote Act fails to advance.
If Republicans continue to stand in the way and support the public's fundamental right to vote, then the president will determine an alternative path forward.
Activists were arrested outside the White House
Following Tuesday's demonstrations outside the White House, an assortment of activists was arrested by authorities.
According to The Washington Post, Rev. Jamal Bryant, a prominent Georgia pastor, Rabbi David Saperstein, a former US ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, actress Alyssa Milano, and more were led away from the White House.
Prior to the arrest, authorities warned activists that they violated D.C. law by obstructing or incommoding. This demonstration is not the first time voting rights activists have urged Biden and Congress to move on federal election bills.
In July, activists said they were becoming impatient with Biden and the president's reluctance to end the Senate's filibuster rule.
Activists also want the POTUS to put pressure on Democratic holdouts by allowing a pair of federal voting bills to be passed in the Senate by a simple majority vote, according to CNN.
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