Republicans Want ‘To Make It Easier for Felons To Get a Gun, But Harder ... for Non-White Americans to Vote’

Chuck Schumer keeps trying to shame Republicans, while working to keep hopes for the For The People Act alive.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) returned to his lectern on the Senate floor Wednesday to deliver remarks on what's become, for him, an all-too-familiar topic: Republican efforts nationwide to pass new state laws which limit and restrict Black and other typical Democratic voting groups from accessing their right to vote.

At the same time, the leader of the narrowest Senate majority in 20 years is desperately trying to keep legislative hopes alive for the Democrats' sweeping voting-rights and political reform bill, the For The People Act, with its importance signaled by the official designation it's been given in the Senate: S. 1.

Among its many provisions, the For The People Act would dramatically expand access to voting, including vote-by-mail and would make Election Day a federal holiday.

The bill already passed the House in March, by a vote of 220-210.

Sen Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) speaks on the For The People Act with other Democrats inside the Capitol

In his first task, Schumer would be helped if Republicans had any sense of shame left to appeal to. And, in his second, he'd be assisted if that one senator on which the entire Democratic majority — such as it is — rests, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, wasn't kneecapping S. 1 with as much apparent glee as he's taking in perversely thrashing essentially the rest of the Democratic agenda along with it.

(Sorry, but a quick aside here to address the honorable senator from West Virginia: Senator, what's the point of enabling even a slim Democratic majority, if you won't let that majority legislate? Okay, now back to our story at hand.)

Schumer is an experienced and cunning lawmaker. And, over the years, proven to be a loyal soldier.

So, despite the cards laid against him, Schumer's determined to play the hand dealt him. Thus he finds himself back behind that lectern, determined to make the most of his speechmaking that he can.

“Now, on voting rights, the Texas State Senate recently passed a bill that repeals all requirements for carrying a handgun, including a valid license, registering fingerprints and four hours of training. Texas would be the sixth state to pass a permitless carry law with Louisiana waiting in the wings,” Schumer began. “If both Texas and Louisiana passed these laws, fully a third of Americans would live in states where it was legal to carry firearms without training or a license.

"That happened just one week after the Texas legislature made that law — that advanced that law to make it as easy as possible to carry a handgun, advanced another law to make it harder to vote. You need stringent identification to vote and no identification to carry a handgun. What the heck is going on in Texas?” clearly laying on the incredulity so as to play to those who might be watching CSPAN at home. “Just think about that for a moment. Across the country, Republican legislatures are removing all barriers to carrying firearms while at the same time putting up barriers around voting.”

Clearly building up a rhetorical head of steam, this is where Schumer slyly plays the proverbial card up his sleeve.

And that would be the video recently uncovered by Mother Jones, of Jessica Anderson from the right-wing's Heritage Action, in which Anderson boasts that no, the voting restriction bills Republicans are slamming through across the country aren't coming from any homegrown or grassroots demands.

Rather, Anderson boasts that Heritage Action drafted the legislation and happily passed it out like candy to eager Republicans who were anxious for something to ensure that they could hold onto power.

“The political right wants to make it easier for felons to get a gun but harder for younger, poorer, and non-white Americans to vote. It’s hard to think of a more reactionary vision for our country, a more backward-looking vision, a vision that eventually will be repudiated, not only in the history books but in our nation’s politics,” Schumer said. “Sadly, as voter suppression laws sweep through Republican state houses from Florida, Montana, and everywhere in between, the political right is actually bragging about how successfully they are restricting the franchise.

”Last week, a spokesperson for Heritage Action, the lobbying arm of a far-right think tank, told a group of Republican donors that Heritage Action was drafting new voter restrictions and literally handing them over to state legislators in order to give the laws, quote, ‘the grassroots feel.’ She went on to crow about how quickly and quietly her organization managed to get new limits on voting passed in Iowa. She told the donors that she looked at her team of right-wing lobbyists and said it can’t be that easy. That’s how the far right is talking about making it harder for Americans to vote.”

Make no mistake: Schumer's floor speech was entirely performative. He knew that he wasn't going to win over a single Republican senator. It was all for the benefit of the folks at home.

But neither does that make him wrong. Just who do you want influencing our government: shadowy right-wing lobbyists — or, should it really be, as the legislation says, “For The People”?