Senate Dems plot new paths on voting reform, sidestepping filibuster

A boost of election spending in the forthcoming $3.5 trillion spending bill is on the table, as is another floor vote.

As the fate of Senate Democrats’ signature ethics and voting reform package remains in limbo, they’re confident they can deliver in at least one area: election funding.

Senate Democrats, led by Rules Chair Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, are considering providing additional cash for voting standards and voting by mail in the $3.5 trillion social spending plan that the party is set to take its first steps on as soon as this weekend. Klobuchar and others have emphasized that the boost of cash for election infrastructure is not a replacement for Democrats’ stalled reform plan, but rather an alternate track to make progress.

“We’re working to see what we can do with it, but it will not be a replacement for the federal voting standards. Because some states would just go ‘Well, I don’t want the money,” Klobuchar said, adding that the amount of funding is still not finalized. Senate and House negotiators, however, are eyeing spending as much as $15 billion to $20 billion on election infrastructure.

Still, the forthcoming multitrillion-dollar spending bill may be the only realistic opportunity for congressional Democrats to do something concrete on voting ahead of next fall's midterms. With Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and other Democrats opposed to changing the legislative filibuster, any major election overhaul stands little chance of becoming law at the moment.

“It’s really essential that we have a strategy that we can execute," said one Senate Democrat, speaking candidly on condition of anonymity, as opposed to "every week we come back and say 'Have you changed your mind yet, Joe Manchin?’”

While the Senate is currently wrapping up a bipartisan infrastructure bill and preparing to move forward on the $3.5 trillion social spending package, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is privately telling his members that they should expect more votes on election reform legislation before the end of the work period, according to people familiar with the discussions.

The Washington Post first reported the possibility of this month's vote, which comes after Democrats failed to advance their package in June amid unanimous GOP opposition.

A group of Democratic senators has been working for weeks on legislation that would incorporate recommendations from Manchin, who had reservations about the initial ethics and election reform package. Senior Democrats met Wednesday afternoon to talk about next steps and Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, who is participating in those discussions, predicted Thursday that the proposal could be unveiled next week, as “the vehicle that now Dems are unified.”

Kaine added that he has “recommended that we ought to consider whether there are pieces of the bill that can be done through reconciliation.”

In the House, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is leading the effort to include election funding in the social spending package. But it's unclear if that will be enough to placate progressives in the House, who have been clamoring for more aggressive congressional action on voting rights.

But the potential for an intra-conference compromise in the Senate means that the upper chamber is moving on a separate track than the House. The House already passed the Democrats’ election and ethics reform package in March, and legislators in the lower chamber are expected to introduce a second voting rights-focused bill, which is named after the late civil rights icon John Lewis and focused on restoring parts of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act, as soon as this week.

Meanwhile, voting rights activists are amping up the pressure, as two deadlines approach. The first is the long-delayed release of redistricting data from the Census Bureau, which mapmakers across the country use to redraw House and legislative lines every ten years. That data is expected to be released Aug. 12, and states will immediately begin drawing maps once it is released. The second is Aug.6. the anniversary of when President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law nearly six decades ago.

"Achieving change, especially legislative change, is not based on the urgency of the lawmakers, it is based on the urgency of those of us that are going to force the lawmakers," Rev. Al Sharpton told reporters on Thursday.

Schumer has vowed that “failure is not an option” when it comes to election and ethics reform. But it’s not clear what the next steps are, given that Manchin opposes any carveout to Senate rules and there’s little GOP appetite for Democrats’ efforts.

Heather Caygle and Zach Montellaro contributed to this report.