The Republican Party’s efforts to reform election processes across the country are the “worst challenge to our democracy since the Civil War,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki argued Monday.
Reporters asked Psaki what President Joe Biden plans to do to push Democratic election reforms beyond simply delivering a speech Tuesday condemning the GOP’s “onslaught of voter suppression laws.” Psaki linked ongoing Republican voter reform efforts to former President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election. Trump has long maintained unsubstantiated claims that the 2020 election was rigged or fraudulent.
“[Biden] will redouble his commitment to using every tool at his disposal to continue to fight to protect the fundamental right of Americans to vote against the onslaught of voter suppression laws based on a dangerous and discredited conspiracy theory that culminated in and assault on our Capitol,” Psaki said. (RELATED: ‘Racist Voter Suppression’: Civil Rights Group Calls For Masters Tournament To Boycott Georgia Over Voting Bill)
Psaki added that Biden will attempt to galvanize support for the Democrats’ For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, arguing that such efforts are key to overcoming “the worst challenge to our democracy since the Civil War.”
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Psaki’s comments echo Biden’s own description of the pro-Trump storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, which he argued was “the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.”
“Throughout our history, presidents have come into this chamber to speak to Congress, to the nation, and to the world, to declare war, to celebrate peace, to announce new plans and possibilities,” Biden said in his speech to a joint session of Congress in April. “Tonight, I come to talk about crisis and opportunity. By rebuilding a nation, revitalizing our democracy, and winning the future for America, I stand here tonight one day shy of the 100th day in my administration.”
“100 days since I took the oath of office and lifted my hand off our family bible and inherited a nation. We all did, that was in crisis,” he continued. “The worst pandemic in a century. The worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. The worst attack on our democracy since the civil war. Now, after just 100 days, I can report to the nation America is on the move again.”
State Republican legislatures and governors across the country have sought to reform election processes after a shocking number of Republican voters reported distrust in the result of the 2020 election.
Georgia has led the effort to enhance voter ID laws, expand in-person early voting and limit mail-in balloting. Democrats have argued the bill is a form of voter suppression.