Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson would have “tears in their eyes” at the “departure from democracy” in the United States during a news conference held by the Deliver for Voting Rights Campaign on Monday.
Join @OfficialMLK3, @ArndreaKing, Yolanda Renee King, elected officials, civil rights leaders and me at an event for MLK day discussing the critical need for action on voting rights. https://t.co/dscPNNjJ8q
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) January 17, 2022
“Imagine, 36-years-old, left this Earth in such a way that he has a monument on the Mall along with Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson,” Pelosi said, referring to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “All of them with tears in their eyes for the departure from our democracy that is happening right now unless the truth is acknowledged and this legislation is passed.”
King was 39-years-old when he passed away.
Pelosi was hosted by The Deliver for Voting Rights campaign in Washington D.C.’s Union Station, according to C-SPAN. Pelosi was accompanied by the family of King as well as Democratic Representatives, including Ohio Rep. Joyce Beatty.
Speeches at the event called on the Senate to abolish the filibuster in order for the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act to pass into law.
The bills, if passed, would nationalize election laws by giving the Justice Department the ability to challenge state voting laws as discriminatory, as previously reported. The bills would also expand early voting and absentee ballot provision while stopping bans on ballot harvesting. (RELATED: Schumer Vows To Bring Voting Bills, Rules Changes To Senate Floor)
Since the bills lack any Republican support, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have called for the abolition of the filibuster in order for them to pass. Biden and Harris have run into pushback in their own party, with Democratic Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema opposing the elimination of the filibuster.