President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he was “deeply disappointed” by the failure in the Senate of the great electoral reform that he had promoted to protect the right to vote against the restrictions imposed in conservative states.
“I am deeply disappointed that the Senate has not defended our democracy. I am disappointed, but not discouraged,” the president said on Twitter.
Biden promised that he will continue to promote changes that protect the right to vote in the United States.
His great electoral reform foundered this Wednesday in the Senate due to the unanimous blockade of the Republican opposition and the divisions within his own party.
First, the Republicans refused to debate Biden’s great electoral reform using a maneuver called filibustering which allows the debate of any measure to be prevented if a minimum of 60 votes is not gathered.
Hours later, the leader of the Democrats in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, proposed a change in the rules of that chamber to reduce the power of filibustering and get the measure debated.
However, as predicted, he failed to garner the support he needed from his ranks.
Democratic Senators Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia joined the Republicans in voting against changing the rules of the game.
The Republican blockade and the internal differences between the Democrats are a setback for Biden, who turns one year in power tomorrow, Thursday.