WASHINGTON — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell excoriated Democrats’ unsuccessful attempt at temporarily changing Senate rules to pave their way for passage of a sweeping 700-page voting rights bill that lacked any Republican support.
A Democratic point of order to lower the legislative body’s threshold to a simple majority – rather than the 60 votes required – failed late Wednesday night, capping a marathon day on Capitol Hill that McConnell described as “in all likelihood the most important day in the history of the Senate as an institution.”
But after hours of floor debate on both the substance of the voting rights package and the rules that govern the upper chamber, McConnell won, keeping the filibuster intact and likely dashing Democrats’ dreams of electoral reform in this election year.
