"If there's anything worthy of debate in this chamber, it should be protecting and strengthening our democracy," Schumer said of the bill to expand voters' access to mail-in ballots and other steps.
If Republicans block debate on the bill, some Democrats are likely to press Schumer to discover a way around the Senate's filibuster procedure that needs at least 60 votes in the evenly split, 100-member chamber for most legislation to advance.
Such plans include sparing the measure from the filibuster. Others include requiring senators stay in the chamber and talk until the filibuster is dropped – the way it used to be done.
The bill is in response to voting restrictions passed in Republican-led states following former President Donald Trump's claim he lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden "because Democrats used COVID to cheat."
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Since late last year, several Republican-controlled states have passed or advanced bills to codify election laws that were skirted under the form of COVID-19 pandemic concerns.
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Democrats are fixed on setting mail-in balloting into law throughout the country, something Republicans have called a power grab.
It is a pared-back version of the For the People Act, to give states more autonomy in some policies and allow state-based voter ID, primarily intended to win the vote of Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., a key holdout on the previous version.
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"I thank Senator Manchin and the other members who have admirably sought common ground with our Republican colleagues. I hope Republicans now join us in common-cause to protect the integrity of our democracy," Schumer said.
That's dubious. What remains to be seen is whether Democrats steamroll the GOP. Some have suggested a carve-out to the filibuster for voting rights. But Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., despite supporting the bill, want to keep the 60-vote rule.
"We know McConnell is going to filibuster next week to prevent a vote on the Freedom to Vote Act. The question is what President Biden and Senate Democrats do next. Do they throw in the towel or fight to amend the filibuster and save the republic?" said Ezra Levin, a co-founder of the group Indivisible, which has sought to build support for a voting rights overhaul.
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Levin said any expectation of success for Democrats will need Biden's "active, enthusiastic engagement on filibuster reform." Biden has championed new voting rights protections, but he has been unwilling to push to eliminate the filibuster in the Senate, where he served for 36 years. Instead, he has called for it to be modified to force a minority to hold the Senate floor and speak while it is blocking bills.
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