Left-leaning groups pressure Schumer to act on voting bill

WASHINGTON (AP) — Dozens of left-leaning organizations are asking Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to schedule a new vote this month on Democrats' sweeping voting and elections bill, a top priority for the party that Republicans blocked from debate last month.

In a letter sent to the New York Democrat on Monday, the groups urged him to once again bring the bill to the Senate floor. But this time, they are asking Senate Democrats to weaken filibuster rules, which require 60 votes to advance most legislation, and push the measure through on a party-line basis, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tiebreaking 51st vote.

“The only thing standing in the way is the outdated and abused filibuster,” states the letter, which was signed by roughly 90 different groups, including the good-government group Common Cause, Our Revolution, the League of Conservation Voters, the Communications Workers of America union and MoveOn.

The letter is one piece of a broader summer campaign to pressure congressional Democrats to change the filibuster and pass their voting bill, which they've touted as a powerful counterweight to an effort in Republican-controlled states to adopt new voting restrictions.

Congressional offices have been flooded with calls, and numerous rallies have been held.

On Monday, a group of Democratic state lawmakers from Texas, where a special session of the legislature is underway to enact voting restrictions, fled the state for Washington, D.C. Their aim was twofold: to deny Texas Republicans a quorum needed to conduct business and to shine a light on the state-level efforts.

Last week, a group of civil rights activists met with President Joe Biden about the issue and publicly called on the White House afterward to get more involved.

“There is absolutely...