Martin Luther King III, a civil rights leader and son of Martin Luther King Jr, reflected on Joe Biden’s speech in Atlanta, calling on the president to “use the full power of his office” to eliminate the filibuster:

President Biden was clear in his call for eliminating the filibuster to pass voting rights, and we’re grateful he has taken this bold step to support the change that we need. But he can’t rest this call at the feet of the Senate and walk away – he must use the full power of his office to ensure this Jim Crow relic finally falls.

The president cited his pedigree of dealmaking to pass voting rights legislation as a senator – we know he has the power and influence to do the same today. When we met with the president today, we reiterated that we expect strong action, not just words. We need to see a plan. We will be watching closely and mobilizing to ensure his speech is backed by the full power and influence of his office.”

Andrea Waters King, a civil rights advocate, added:

We won’t be satisfied until the president signs both the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act into law. We are hopeful to see him heed our call and begin putting his full force behind the legislation now. But we intend to hold him accountable until we see him deliver for voting rights.”

An Indiana state senator has backtracked on his remarks that teachers must be impartial when discussing nazism in classrooms after he sparked widespread backlash.

During a state senate committee hearing last week about Senate Bill 167, a proposed bill that would ban “concepts that divide”, the Republican senator Scott Baldwin, who co-wrote the bill, said teachers should remain unprejudiced when teaching lessons about fascism and nazism.

“Marxism, nazism, fascism … I have no problem with the education system providing instruction on the existence of those ‘isms’,” Baldwin said, adding, “I believe we’ve gone too far when we take a position … We need to be impartial.” He went on to say that teachers should “just provide the facts” and that he is “not sure it’s right for us to determine how that child should think and that’s where I’m trying to provide the guardrails”.

Baldwin has since walked back on his remarks. In an email to the Indianapolis Star last Thursday, he said that his intention with the bill was to make sure teachers are being impartial when discussing and teaching “legitimate political groups”.

“When I was drafting this bill, my intent with regard to ‘political affiliation’ was to cover political parties within the legal American political system,” Baldwin said. “In my comments during committee, I was thinking more about the big picture and trying to say that we should not tell kids what to think about politics.”

He went on to denounce the aforementioned ideologies, saying, “nazism, Marxism and fascism are a stain on our world history and should be regarded as such, and I failed to adequately articulate that in my comments during the meeting. I believe that kids should learn about these horrible events in history so that we don’t experience them again in humanity.”

SB 167 was filed in recent weeks in response to the fierce debates that have emerged across Indiana and the rest of the country in the past year regarding the ways schools should teach children about racism, history and other subject matters.

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The House Select Committee probing the 6 January insurrection have issued subpoenas to policy adviser Ross Worthington, who helped draft the speech that Donald Trump delivered prior to the attack on the capitol.

The committee has also subpoenaed two advisers to Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr, Andy Surabian and Arthur Schwartz.

Joe Biden argued that the Republican minority in the Senate should not be allowed to use the filibuster to prevent the Democratic majority from enacting its agenda.

“Today, I’m making it clear,” the president said in Atlanta, to protect our democracy, I support changing the Senate rules, whichever way they need to be changed, to prevent a minority of senators from blocking action on Voting rights.”

Biden’s speech represented his most direct appeal yet to change Senate rules, but his strong words still may not be enough to get voting rights bills across the finish line.

Because the Senate is evenly divided between the two parties, majority leader Chuck Schumer needs all 50 Democratic senators’ support to move forward with rule changes.

At least one of those senators, Joe Manchin, has made it clear that he will not support any rule changes unless they can attract bipartisan support, which seems virtually impossible given Republicans’ unified opposition to filibuster reform.

Joe Biden encouraged election officials to decide whether they want to be on the right side of history when it comes to protecting voting rights for all Americans.

“History has never been kind to those who have sided with voter suppression over voters’ rights,” the president said in Atlanta.

“Do you want to be on the side of Dr King or George Wallace? Do you want to be on the side of John Lewis or Bull Connor? Do you want to be on the side of Abraham Lincoln or Jefferson Davis? This is the moment to decide.”

Kamala Harris acknowledged America’s long history of passing laws to make it more difficult for certain voters, particularly people of color, to access the ballot box.

“Anti-voters laws are not new in our nation, but we must not be deceived into thinking they’re normal,” Harris said. “There is nothing normal about a law that makes it illegal to pass out water or food to people standing in long voting lines.”

The vice-president urged Americans not to be complacent about the enactment of voting restrictions, warning that Republicans were trying to “interfere with our elections to get the outcomes they want”.

“Do not succumb to those who would dismiss this assault on voting rights as an unfounded threat,” Harris said. “If we stand idly by, our entire nation will pay the price for generations to come.”

The sun beamed down over the area where the stage was set up, with the weather peaking at 50 degrees.

Attendees included students wearing maroon-colored Morehouse face masks and members of Vice President Kamala Harris’ Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. Outside nearly a dozen people waved signs in protest of the administration’s appearance on campus.

Prior to the event beginning, Reverend Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson were seen riding through a crowd of attendees on a golf cart.

Despite being inaccurately introduced as Martin Luther King High School, the drum line from Southwest Dekalb High School performed. The band had been silently practicing for its big moment for more than an hour before the event began.

The event took place at the Atlanta University Center consortium on the Clark Atlanta University and Morehouse College’s campus in southwest Atlanta’s West End neighborhood. The AUC consortium is comprised of four HBCUS, including Spelman and Morris Brown college.

Spelman college SGA president Jillian Jackson invoked the activist legacies of Julian Bond, Raphael Warnock and Stacey Abrams who attended schools within the Atlanta University Center consortium while introducing the president and vice president.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are now delivering remarks on the need to pass national voting rights legislation at the Atlanta University Center Consortium.

The president and vice-president were introduced by Jillian Jackson, the student body president at the historically Black Spelman College.

Jackson recounted her pride when she registered to vote at an NAACP drive, and she lamented the challenges that many Americans face in trying to access the ballot box.

As Harris stepped up to the podium, she told Jackson, “I can’t wait to see what you do next.”

Senator Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, described the upcoming vote to amend the filibuster to clear the way for passing a voting rights bill as “the most important vote that I will ever take in my life”.

“I have been very reluctant since being here to talk at all about changing the filibuster, and if we were here today talking about a policy issue, I wouldn’t be at this podium,” King said at a press conference on Capitol Hill.

“But we’re not talking about a policy issue. We’re talking about a structural issue. we’re talking about how our system works.”

The Maine senator quoted the British historian Arnold Toynbee, who once said, “Civilizations commit suicide; they’re not murdered.”

“I don’t want to see that happen in the United States of America,” King said.

As Joe Biden arrived at the Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where Dr Martin Luther King Jr was once a pastor, reporters shouted questions at the president.

One journalist asked Biden for his message to supporters who are disappointed that Democrats have not already done more on voting rights. Another reporter asked Biden whether he has the votes necessary to pass a bill.

“Keep the faith,” Biden replied.

As of now, it appears that Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer does not have the votes necessary to amend the filibuster, which would clear the way for Democrats to pass a voting rights bill.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have just visited the crypt of Dr Martin Luther King Jr, the civil rights icon, and his wife, Coretta Scott King, in Atlanta, Georgia.

The president and the vice-president laid a wreath at the crypt after meeting with members of the King family, including Dr Bernice A King and Martin Luther King III, two of Dr King’s children.

Biden and Harris are now visiting Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Dr King was once a pastor, before they deliver their speeches on voting rights this afternoon.

In a statement released earlier today, Martin Luther King III said, “We are hopeful that after tomorrow’s trip to our home state, the President will honor my father’s legacy by traveling back to Washington and using every political chip he has to ensure the filibuster doesn’t obstruct the right to vote for Black and Brown Americans.”

Although Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have attracted the most attention in the debate over filibuster reform, some other Senate Democrats appear to be on the fence as well.

Politico reports:

Mark Kelly is not yet committed to a change in the Senate rules that would allow elections reform legislation to pass by a simple majority. A centrist who is up for reelection in November, Kelly said Monday he is still undecided just days before he may have to vote on proposals to weaken the filibuster. …

For a caucus that prides itself on unity, there’s plenty of nuance in Democrats’ views.

Some, like Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) like a talking filibuster but are ‘not crazy’ about making an exception for voting rights. Meanwhile, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) says reform is needed but is promoting more modest changes. She cites the near-impossible odds the party faces in getting all 50 Democrats on board for changing the filibuster unilaterally, also known as the ‘nuclear option.’

As a reminder, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer cannot afford any defections if he wants to amend the filibuster because the upper chamber is evenly divided, 50-50, between Democrats and Republicans.

Joe Manchin is insisting that any changes to Senate rules must attract bipartisan support, which is virtually impossible given Republicans’ unified opposition to filibuster reform.

And if Democrats cannot change Senate rules, they almost certainly cannot pass voting rights bills, as Republicans have repeatedly used the filibuster to block those proposals.

Derrick Johnson, the president of the NAACP, urged lawmakers to prioritize the fate of American democracy over their desire for bipartisanship.

“Bipartisanship is wonderful when it works. But it must never come at the cost of democracy,” Johnson said on Twitter. “Getting voting rights legislation to the president’s desk has got to be the top priority above anything else.”

Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, has acknowledged that high inflation has emerged as a serious threat to the central bank’s goal of getting more Americans back to work and that the Fed will raise rates further if needed to stem surging prices.

“If we have to raise interest rates more over time, we will,” Powell said during a hearing of the Senate banking committee, which is considering his nomination for a second four-year term.

The Associated Press reports:

Fed officials have forecast three increases in the their benchmark short-term rate this year, though some economists say they envision four rate hikes in 2022.
The stark challenge for Powell if he is confirmed as expected for a new term was underscored by the questions he faced from both Democratic and Republican senators. Powell and the central bank are under rising pressure to rein in inflation without ramping up interest rates so high that the economy tumbles into another recession.
Today, Powell took pains to rebuff suggestions from some Democratic senators that rate increases would slow hiring and potentially leave many people, particularly lower-income and Black Americans, without jobs. Fed rate increases typically lead to higher rates on many consumer and business loans and have the effect of slowing economic growth.

But Powell made clear that he is now more worried about the damage that rising inflation could inflict on the job market.

“High inflation is a severe threat to the achievement of maximum employment,” he said.
The economy, the Fed chair added, must grow for an extended period to put as many Americans back to work as possible. Controlling inflation without raising rates so high as to choke off the economic recovery is critical to lowering unemployment, Powell said.

“We know that high inflation exacts a toll, particularly for those less able to meet the higher costs of essentials like food, housing, and transportation,” he told the committee.

Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell warned that Republicans would retaliate against Democrats if they move forward with amending the filibuster to pass voting rights bills.

“Fifty Republican senators, the largest possible minority, have been sent here to represent the many millions of Americans whom Leader Schumer wants so badly to leave behind,” McConnell said in a floor speech moments ago.

“So if my colleague tries to break the Senate to silence those millions of Americans, we will make their voices heard in this chamber in ways that are more inconvenient for the majority and this White House than what anybody has seen in living memory.”

Republicans could theoretically throw up more procedural roadblocks to delay the confirmation of Joe Biden’s nominees and block the passage of routine bills.

“What would a post-nuclear Senate look like? I assure you it would not be more efficient or more productive,” McConnell said. “I personally guarantee it.”

The Republican who memorably resisted Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn his election defeat in Georgia has said he will run for re-election on a platform of “integrity and truth”, against an opponent who as a churchman “should know better” than to advance the former president’s lies.

Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, became a household name after he turned down Trump’s demand that he “find 11,780 votes” in order to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the southern state. It was the first victory by a Democrat in a presidential race in Georgia since 1992.

The call is among subjects of an investigation by the district attorney of Fulton county into whether Trump and others committed crimes in their push to overturn election results in the state.

On Monday, Fani Willis told the Associated Press she expected to make a decision in the case in the first half of this year.

“We’re going to just get the facts, get the law, be very methodical, very patient and, in some extent, unemotional about this quest for justice,” she said.

Another reporter asked Joe Biden whether he was insulted that Georgia gubernatorial candidate and voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams will not be attending his speech in Atlanta.

“I spoke to Stacey this morning. We have a great relationship,” Biden said, adding that their teams got their scheduling “mixed up”. “We’re all on the same page.”

A number of influential political activists in Georgia are refusing to attend Biden’s speech because they say the event is a “waste of time” when it appears Democrats do not have the votes in the Senate to pass a voting rights bill.

Jewel Wicker has more details on that dust-up:

Before traveling to Atlanta to address voting rights, Joe Biden congratulated the University of Georgia Bulldogs for their victory in last night’s national college football championship game.

“Congratulations @GeorgiaFootball on your national championship! Your skill, grit, and determination show us what is possible – and how to win your school’s first title in 41 years. I’m proud of you, Bulldogs,” the president said on Twitter.

The Bulldogs scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to defeat the Alabama Crimson Tide 33 to 18.

Echoing a number of other civil rights leaders, the president of the NAACP said Joe Biden’s speech on voting rights today needs to translate into action in Congress.

“There is nothing more urgent than securing the foundations of our democracy,” NAACP president Derrick Johnson said in a statement ahead of Biden’s trip to Atlanta.

“This administration and this Congress must use all the tools at their disposal to get voting rights across the finish line. We need to see outcomes.”

Of course, it remains unclear whether Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer can convince all 50 members of his caucus to support changing the filibuster, which would allow voting rights bills to advance.

Senate Republicans have repeatedly used the filibuster to block the passage of the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

The attorney general of New York state is acting unconstitutionally and in an un-American way in investigating the Trump Organization, Eric Trump has insisted, claiming a civil inquiry into his father’s financial and ta