'Attack on our democracy is real': Biden slams the 'onslaught of Republicans' anti-voting laws' and the Jan 6 riot during Martin Luther King Jr. Day address as he promises to stand against 'election subversion'
In a speech marking Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, President Joe Biden Biden excoriated 'the onslaught' of Republican-run state legislatures passing voter ID laws and other election security measures that critics say restrict access to the ballot box.
Biden called on elected officials and all Americans to honor the slain civil rights leader by making it 'clear where they stand' on voting rights reform, after his most recent attempt to pass federal election legislation fell apart last week.
He compared today's struggle over how to ensure free and fair elections to King's hard-fought battle for equality and said the January 6 Capitol riot was proof that attacks on democracy from the right 'are real.'
'Vice President Harris and I visited Atlanta, Georgia, the cradle of civil rights in America,' Biden began, referring to his trip early last week.
'We paused and prayed at the crypt of Dr. and Mrs. King, we met members of their family...we met students who are changing the world just like generations of young people before them had done that -- in fact, Dr. King was just one of those young people.'
Biden said King was a '15-year-old student at Morehouse College' when he set out on a path to a 'promise that holds that we're all created equal and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives.'
Biden called on all elected officials across the country to make clear 'where they stand' on voting rights in his brief Monday morning address
'Dr. King wasn't just a dreamer of that promise, he was a doer. And on this federal holiday that honors him, it's not just enough to praise him. We must commit to his unfinished work, to deliver jobs and justice, to protect the sacred right to vote, the right from which all other rights flow,' he continued.
The president pivoted to a harsher tone as he accused Republicans of 'attacking' American democracy over their election security measures and once again invoked the deadly insurrection at the United States Capitol.
'Attack (sic) on our democracy is real, from the January 6 insurrection to the onslaught of Republicans' anti-voting laws in a number of states. It's no longer just about who gets to vote. It's about who gets to count the vote, and whether your vote counts at all,' Biden said.
He said GOP efforts to strengthen security at the ballot box were about 'two things: voter suppression and election subversion.'
Biden said King 'held up a mirror to America' that's now being 'held up again'
'In his time, through his courage, his conviction, his commitment, Dr. King held a mirror up to America and forced us to answer the question: Where do we stand? Whose side are we on?' Biden said.
'We’re in another moment right now, where the mirror is being held up to America, being held up again. The question being asked again: Where do we stand? Whose side are we on? Will we stand against voter suppression, yes or no? Will we stand against election subversion, yes or no?
'Will we stand up for America where everyone is guaranteed the full protections and the full promise of this nation, yes or no?'
The president called on 'elected officials' nationwide to make their stance on voting rights reform clear.
'I know where I stand. And it’s time for every elected official in America to make it clear where they stand,' he said.
Biden, who won the White House on the promise of unifying the country, now urged all Americans to make clear 'whose side are you on' over voting rights.
'It's time for every American to stand up, speak out, be heard: where do you stand? Whose side are you on?' he asked.
Harris marked Martin Luther King Jr. Day by quoting the slain icon.
'I often turn to the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for inspiration. Today, I’m keeping these words in mind: the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,' the vice president wrote on Twitter along with an image of herself and Biden at King's memorial.
Despite its likely failure, the Senate is scheduled to vote on the election bill, the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, on Tuesday.
Last week Biden delivered a fiery speech promoting his voting rights legislation in Atlanta, where the president compared Republican opponents of the measure to infamous figures like Confederate leader Jefferson Davis.
Kamala Harris quoted Martin Luther King Jr. along with an image of herself and Biden at his memorial
His remarks earned swift criticism from GOP members of Congress and even prompted a fellow Democrat, Senator Dick Durbin, to say they may have gone 'a bit too far.'
The address alone served to divide his own party, with other Democrats like Rep. James Clyburn telling NBC's Meet The Press on Sunday that he endorsed it 'wholeheartedly.'
But their chances of passing federal voter protections dimmed after two key centrists, Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, opposed changing Senate rules to allow the bill to pass on Democrats' razor-thin 50-50 majority with Vice President Kamala Harris as the tie-breaking vote.
Previous efforts to pass election bills through the Senate have died at the hands of a Republican filibuster, which needs 60 votes to be overcome.
On Sunday Clyburn, a longtime Biden ally, admitted the current bill 'may be on life support' but indicated they were not giving up on finding ways to pass it.
The president compared opposition to the civil rights movement of the 1960s to the Capitol rioters and Republican legislatures passing election laws today
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