we saw that house oversight committee hearing on thursday. hearing your fellow texan lawmakers in the state house testify on the impact of the state s restriction legislation, and i met with them wednesday and heard some even before, and the need for the federal protections that they talked about is as it is in the john lewis act and for the for the people act. and we know the coming of yesterday s meeting between tom top dems and the white house, that some sort of compromised voting bill is in the works on the hill, though we can t expect any movement before next week s recess begins. as co-chair and co-founder of the voting rights caucus in the house, i wonder if your input has been sought on this new scaled back bill? you know, ever since we ve been working on these voting
there are other issues of course that are important as well. this was a key issue and something they want to change, and because of so many different reasons. we re not able to do it overnight. they are pending rules and regulation taking months to change. there are staffs that need to be hired and processes that need to be in place. it s tough for him. he s already facing a bit of a back can be lash from those who feel like he s not doing things fast enough and is not communicating what he s doing. that s a worry i hear a lot. before i asking about the big development this week, i want to touch on something you just said. we re still technically in a pandemic. we also have so many other voting rights issues, for example, do you think that the
they re doing. the 51 texas legislators met with members of congress and made their case. they are saying we can t do this without congress and the white house. do you get the sense that the white house will lead on this, including this idea of dealing with the filibuster as it relates to voting rights issues? well, as you know president biden has been really sort of muted in his talking about the filibuster and whether the senate should fully get rid of that or get rid of it for this particular bill. i think one really interesting thing that came up this week, you mentioned the texas democrats, they met with senator joe manchin of west virginia and came out of the meeting pleased that he had said, look, if we get back to the basics here and pass a stripped down version of this bill, not the huge bill, maybe we can pass something, maybe i would support something. there was some hope for the texas democrats that can go something could happen. but it s tough time right now. everybody s
pressure on republicans or be willing to make the filibuster cost more for republicans who are maybe they don t want to go down on the floor and say they oppose this bill. i m not necessarily sure that s going to be enough. i don t see a scenario where republicans aren t willing to do that. they seem to universally oppose sb-1. do you see where they flip on it that they make enough changes to the rules of the senate that this could actually get through? it s interesting as part of my reporting ahead of the speech, i spoke with a senior adviser in the white house who s playing a big role among others in advancing these voting rights issues, and when i talked to him, they want to see president biden giving speeches, much more use of the bully pulpit ahead of the senate vote on s-1. what richard responded is,
that s a fact. when i was reading about it in the 19 eighties, about laws that had been fought against in the 1960s. going back, there were 250 are some of these laws that are being passed. by the way, not a single one of them is being passed with a democratic vote. a vote from a democrat. in 250 legislatures. and you know it else doesn t exist in any one of those legislatures? the filibuster. senator michael bennet, democratic in colorado talking about how republicans blocking access to the ballot has a kind of familiar ring to it. this is shortly before senator republicans blocked having a debate on the for the people act election reform bill. now, there are advocates. there are lawyers who have been working on voting rights issues for decades. legislatures and in the courts. sherrilyn ifill, that president elect director counsel of the