Biden pleads for passage of voting rights bills in speech on MLK Day: 'The attack on our democracy is real'

The country celebrated the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Monday, and the President and Vice President renewed their call for voting rights legislation.

The John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act are two voting rights bills that are at the center of the Democrats' agenda. Their passage is unlikely in the face of Republican opposition.

Biden said that the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, and Republican efforts to pass new voting rules in several states after Donald Trump's loss in the 2020 election are real. It's not just about who gets to vote, it's about who gets to count the vote, and whether your vote counts at all.

Through his courage, his conviction, and his committement, Dr. King held a mirror up to America and forced us to answer the question, where do we stand? Whose side are we on? Biden continued. The mirror is being held up to America.

January 17, 2022.

The Democrats' top legislative priorities are the voting rights bills. Democrats see voting rights as under threat by Republicans who supported Trump in his insistence that the 2020 election was stolen from him through widespread voter fraud despite a complete lack of evidence to support this claim. Only one Republican Senator, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, will vote for the legislation, and Trump has called it a "voting fraud bill."

Black voters and activists who helped propel Biden to victory in the 2020 presidential primary and helped deliver Georgia to the Democrats in a stunning reversal have demanded stronger action to protect voting rights.

It's unlikely that the legislation will pass in the Senate because of the evenly divided Senate. Two Democrats, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, refuse to vote with their party to end the rule.

Biden continues to push for voting rights legislation. Will we stand against voter suppression? Will we stand against election subversion? Will we stand up for an America where everyone is guaranteed the full protections and the full promise of this nation, yes or no?

Biden said that it was time for elected officials to make it clear where they stand.