Obama called for an end to the Senate filibuster sending shockwaves through the crowd before he turned to Trump. He didn’t mention him by name but there was no mistaking who Obama meant.
“You want to honor John, let’s honor him by revitalizing the law that he was willing to die for. We can witness our federal government sending agents to use tear gas & batons against peaceful demonstrators. There are those in power–undermining the postal service in run-up to an election that’s going to be dependent on mail-in ballots so people don’t get sick,” Barack added.
From The Daily Caller: Former President Barack Obama targeted President Donald Trump in his speech Thursday at the funeral for Democratic Georgia Rep. John Lewis, criticizing his successor’s handling of the George Floyd protests.
Obama highlighted Trump’s decision to send federal agents to Portland, saying they used “tear gas and batons against peaceful demonstrators,” as well as Trump’s opposition to increased funding for the postal service given how necessary it may be on November 3rd.
“Even as we sit here there are those in power who are doing their darnedest to discourage people from voting by closing polling locations, and targeting minorities and students with restrictive I.D. laws, and attacking our voting rights with surgical precision, even undermining the postal service in the run-up to an election that’s gonna be dependent on mail-in ballots so people don’t get sick,” Obama said.
From The Hill: Former President Obama on Thursday called the Senate filibuster rule a “Jim Crow relic” and said it should be ended to pass legislation that would restore a key provision of the Voting Rights Act.
Obama made the remarks while delivering a eulogy for civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), who died earlier this month at the age of 80. The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act would make it harder for states to enact racially suspect voting restrictions.
“Once we pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, we should keep marching,” Obama said. “And if all this takes eliminating the filibuster — another Jim Crow relic — in order to secure the God-given rights of every American, then that’s what we should do.”
The former president’s support for nixing the filibuster — a procedural tactic that requires 60 votes for legislation to proceed — is likely to spark intense political debate. If Democrats win back both the Senate and the White House, they will be under pressure to get rid of the filibuster rule in order to push through high-priority legislation.
Changing Senate rules through a simple majority, a move sometimes referred to as the “nuclear option,” would be highly controversial, and it’s unclear if Democrats would have the political will or the votes needed to end the procedure.
But doing so would allow a Democratic-controlled Senate to pass measures like the Lewis bill on voting rights.
That measure is a response to the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder, a 5-4 ruling that struck down Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The provision required states with a recent history of racism at the ballot box to get federal approval — or preclearance — before changing their voting laws.
OBAMA: “John Lewis devoted his time on this Earth devoted to fighting the very attacks on democracy and what's best in America that we're seeing circulate right now."pic.twitter.com/34gMQF5jNY
— JM Rieger (@RiegerReport) July 30, 2020
OBAMA: "..We can witness our federal government sending agents to use tear gas & batons against peaceful demonstrators."
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) July 30, 2020
"There are those in power--undermining the postal service in run-up to an election that's going to be dependent on mail-in ballots so people don’t get sick!” pic.twitter.com/hZ3ctBlF81
