If Harry Reid is our only hope, we probably have no more hope left. Remember, Harry Reid was the same guy who promised to do something about the Republican abused Filibuster, just to sit on his hands when the time came for him to act.
Now, after the Supreme Court voted down Section 5 of the Voting Act, Harry Reid is once again promising to act.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said on Tuesday that the “Senate will act” to address the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down a key part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
First, Reid said he will task Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) to hold “wide-ranging hearings” on the subject beginning next month after Senate Democrats huddled on the issue during their lunch caucuses on Tuesday.
“There’s general displeasure — and that’s an understatement — in my caucus about what the Supreme Court did. Especially in light of what happened this last election cycle, with Republicans doing everything they could to suppress voting,” Reid told reporters after the lunches. “This is a dark day for the Supreme Court. But it’s been pretty cloudy over there for some time now.
(Full text: Supreme Court Voting Rights Act ruling)
Some Democrats added that the threat posed to minority voting rights — especially through hotly-contested voter ID laws — was just as present as it was when the VRA went into effect. But Republicans argue that the voting situation is much improved since the the act first passed.
“It’s an important bill that passed back in the ’60s at a time when we had a very different America than we have today,” said Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) of Kentucky, who declined to elaborate beyond that statement: “At this point I think I’m just going to have to read it first.”
