Washington – The House passed HR 1 on Wednesday, a broad electoral and governmental reform bill and a key legislative priority for the Democratic majority. The House also passed George Floyd’s Policing Justice Act, although the vote was initially scheduled for Thursday. It was moved due to a security threat.
Two House sources confirmed to CBS News that there were discussions about the increase in votes in the House because of the threat. The US Capitol Police “received new and worrying information and intelligence indicating additional interest in the Capitol for the dates of March 4 to 6 by a militia group,” the House Sergeant in Arms said in a bulletin on Wednesday.
The acting chief of the Capitol Police, Yogananda Pittman, told lawmakers during a hearing on Wednesday that “we have some intelligence information” and “we have improved our security posture”. Security concerns for lawmakers come after the Capitol was invaded by a crowd that sought to annul the presidential election on January 6, with several rioters trying to harm or even murder lawmakers.
Majority leader in the House, Steny Hoyer, released an updated schedule showing that the House would vote on the George Floyd measure on Wednesday night instead of Thursday, allowing the House to end its workweek the day before and not was in session on Thursday.
HR 1 passed a 220-210 vote. No Republican voted to approve the bill, which is not surprising, since most Republicans are openly opposed to it, saying they believe it amounts to federal exaggeration and a takeover by Democrats.
“This is something extremely popular with the American people. The American people want to reduce the role of big, dark money and special interest in politics, which is preventing so many good things from happening. The people want to see an end to the suppression of voters.” , spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi said about HR 1 on Tuesday.
By a 220 to 212 vote, the House also voted to approve the George Floyd Policing Justice Act, in honor of the Minnesota man who died in police custody last year, after an officer knelt on his neck for several minutes, instigating a wave of protests against racial violence and police brutality during the summer. Democratic representatives Jared Golden of Maine and Ron Kind of Wisconsin voted against the legislation. Texas Republican MP Lance Gooden voted in favor of the bill, but later tweeted that he did it by mistake.
The legislation would prohibit bottlenecks and revise qualified immunity protections for law enforcement. A policing reform bill was proposed by Republican Senator Tim Scott in the Senate last year, although it was blocked by Democrats, who argued it didn’t go far enough. Although the two bills have many similarities, they differ in the treatment of qualified immunity protections for police officers.
After the House vote, civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump tweeted: “On behalf of the family of George Floyd, we are deeply grateful and grateful for the leadership of the US House. This represents a major step forward in reforming the relationship between police and communities of color. “
The House had already passed HR 1 in 2019 after Democrats regained the majority and passed the Policing Justice Act last spring, but none of the bills were considered in the Republican-controlled Senate. Democrats now have a narrow 50-seat majority in the Senate, but most legislation requires 60 votes to move forward. The bills are unlikely to win the support of ten Republican senators, so his prospects for Senate approval are bleak.
HR 1, known as the “Law for the People”, would review government ethics and campaign finance laws and seek to strengthen voting rights by creating automatic electoral registration and expanding access to early and absent voting. Voting on the bill takes place in state legislatures controlled by Republicans across the country seek to restrict voting rights, including measures to limit postal voting and impose stricter voter identification requirements.
“We believe HR 1 needs to pass because Republican state legislators, concerned about their losses, whether in their own states or in the country, are again stepping up their efforts to make it more difficult for people to vote,” said Steny, the majority leader. in the camera. Hoyer told reporters on Tuesday.
The Supreme Federal Court, which has a conservative majority of 6 to 3, is also considering two Arizona laws which restrict access to voting, which Democrats argue that disproportionately affect minority voters. If the court maintains these laws, it could allow lawmakers to impose even more restrictive voting laws and a higher standard for litigants seeking to challenge them.
Progressives argued that the Senate should remove the obstruction, which would allow the legislation to move forward with a simple majority in order to approve its main priorities. Some Democrats argue that it is important to remove the obstruction, especially so that voting rights legislation can be passed, such as the People’s Law and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, which would restore the provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. overthrown by the Supreme Court. Former President Barack Obama called to eliminate obstruction so that the voting rights laws could be passed by the Senate during its praise for Lewis’s funeral last summer.
Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock suggested that there could be a limited exception to the obstruction rules for bills related to voting and civil rights. Warnock was elected to represent Georgia in a special January election, and the Republican-controlled state legislature recently introduced bills to make early and postal voting more difficult.
“Voting rights preserve all other rights and we must do everything in our power to preserve the voices of the people in our democracy,” Warnock told reporters on Tuesday. “I think the issues are urgent enough to leave all options on the table.”
However, Democratic senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema expressed opposition to removing the obstruction. Manchin said on Monday that he would “never” change his mind about ending the obstruction.
“Never! Jesus Christ! What do you never understand about?” Said Manchin.
Nikole Killion and Brian Dakss contributed to this report.