Mitch McConnell, top Senate Republican has denounced US President Joe Biden’s voting rights speech as a rant that was incoherent, unpresidential and beneath his office.
This comes after Joe Biden‘s speech in Atlanta calling for an overhaul of the US election system.
According to Biden, he supports changes that would allow his party’s proposed overhaul of the election system to be passed without the support of opposition Republicans.
Currently, a majority of 60% is needed to pass most legislation in the Senate.
Additionally, Biden stated, the push to pass the legislation was a “battle for the soul of America”, adding that the 60-vote rule – known as the filibuster – had rendered the Senate “a shell of its former self”.
Currently, the upper chamber of Congress is split 50-50 between the two parties, therefore Mr. Biden’s sweeping election bills are almost certain not to pass unless there is a change to that rule.
In his speech, Mr Biden compared those that oppose election reform to believers in racial segregation and rebels in the US Civil War. He cast his supporters as civil rights leaders and abolitionists.