us. announcer: charter communications supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. announcer: this week, majority leader chuck schumer will bring a voting rights measure to the floor. he could try to change senate filibuster rules to allow the voting package to move forward with a simple majority, rather than the 60 votes needed to bring it to the floor. currently he does not have the 51 votes needed to make the rules change because senators joe manchin and kyrsten sinema are opposed. republicans also oppose changing the rule. next, remarks from mitch mcconnell on changing filibuster rules. afterwards, we will hear from kyrsten sinema on why she opposes.

>> uniting our people and uniting our nation. yesterday, that very same man delivered a deliberately divisive speech that was designed to pull our country further apart. 12 months ago, this president said we should see each other not as adversaries, but as neighbors. yesterday, he called millions of americans his domestic enemies. 12 months ago the president called on americans to join forces and stop the shouting, lower the temperature. but yesterday, he shouted that

if you disagree with him, you are george wallace. george wallace? if you don't pass the laws he wants, you are bull connor. and if you oppose giving democrats on traveled control of the country, you are jefferson davis. 12 months ago, this president said disagreement must not lead to disunion. but yesterday he invoked the bloody disunion of the civil war to demonize americans who disagree with him. he compared a bipartisan majority of senators to literal traders. how profoundly un-presidential.

i have known, liked and respected joe biden for many years. i did not recognize the man at the podium yesterday. american voters did not give president biden a mandate for very much. he got a tide senate, negative coattails in the house, the narrowest majorities in over a century. the president did not get a mandate to transform america or reshape society. but, he did arguably get a mandate to do just one central thing that he campaigned on. here's what that was, bridge a divided country, lower the

temperature, dial down the perpetual era of crisis in our politics. that is the one central promise joe biden made. it is the one job citizens actually hired him to do. it is the one project that would have actually been consistent with the congress, voters elected. president biden has phot -- has chosen to fail his own test. the president's rant yesterday was incoherent, incorrect and beneath his office. he used the phrase "jim crow 2.0" to demagogue a law that

makes the franchise more accessible than in his own state of delaware. he blasted georgia's procedures regarding local elections officials while pushing for national legislation with almost identical language on that issue. the president implied things like widely popular voting id laws to be -- listen to this -- "totalitarian." ironically on the same time the washington, d.c. mayor told citizens to bring both a federal id and vaccine card any time they leave the house. the president repeatedly invoked the january 6 riot. while himself using irresponsible, delegitimizing rhetoric that undermines our democracy.

the sitting president of the united states compared american states to totalitarian states. he said our country will be an autocracy if he does not get his way. the words the commander-in-chief propagandized against his own country to a degree that would have made pravda blush. there was no consistent standard behind anything the president said. he trampled through some of the most sensitive and sacred parts of our nation's past. he invoked times when activists bled and when soldiers died, all to demagogue voting laws that

are more expansive than what democrats have on the books in his own home state. georgia has more days of early voting than delaware or new york. georgia has a new excuse absentee voting, which delaware and new york do not have. if georgia or texas present jim crow emergencies, so do a lot of democratic run states. senate democratic leaders gone on tv and said georgia is greatly restricting or eliminating early voting. that is alive. provably false. georgia has more early voting than new york. the democratic leader has tried to fear mongering about one rule georgia county -- one rule

georgia county. the county is over -- overwhelmingly red. 70% republican and that one county. take a step back for a minute. president biden's story is that democracy is on death store. but he spent nine months chasing a reckless tax-and-spend spray before addressing it? must not be that much of an emergency. democrats believe a return of jim crow is on the table. but this is only president biden's sixth priority after he was blocked from spending $5 trillion on windmills and welfare.

democrats own behavior refutes their false asteria. 12 months ago, the president said politics -- a raging fire. but yesterday, he ported giant can of gasoline on the fire. 12 months ago, the president said every disagreement doesn't have to be a cause for total war. but yesterday, he said anyone who opposes smashing the senate and letting democrats rewrite election law is a domestic enemy. and a traitor like jefferson davis. one week ago, president biden gave a january 6 lecture about not stoking political violence. one week ago.

yesterday, with the world's largest megaphone, he invoked the literal civil war and said we are on the doorstep of autocracy. he talked about domestic enemies. rhetoric unbecoming of a president of the united states. in less than a year, restoring the soul of america has become this. agree with me or you are a bigot. agree with me or you are a bigot. from lowering the temperature to invoking totalitarian states and the civil war. this inflammatory rhetoric was not an attempt to assuage

democrat or republican senators. this whole display -- in fact, you could not invent a better advertisement for the legislative filibuster then a president abandoning rational persuasion for pure demagoguery. you could not invent a better advertisement for the legislative filibuster then what we have just seen, a president abandoning rational persuasion for pure demagoguery. a president shouting that 52 senators and millions of americans are racist. unless he gets whatever he wants. is proving exactly why the

framers built the senate to check his power. this whole display is the best possible argument for preserving the senate rules that extend deliberation, force bipartisan compromise and let cooler heads prevail. nothing proves it better than this episode. it offers a perfect case study and why senator biden was right about the filibuster and president biden is wrong. one respected scholar explained it this way, the smallest majority we have ever seen in our politics is trying to change the rules for how people get elected in every single state. that is just about the best argument for the filibuster you

could possibly imagine. so, mr. president. the citizens of the greatest country in the world deserve for their elected officials to treat them like grown-ups. the adults of america deserve to hear from the adults in washington, d.c.. so i close with some basic truths. obviously our country is more divided than it should be. i have vocally criticized people across the political spectrum who have sought to legitimize elections when they win and delegitimize democracy when they are polling badly, or when they lose. i criticized top democrat

hysteria when their rhetoric had 66% of democrats across america falsely convince that russia had hacked our voting machines and change the tallies. 66% of democrats thought that after 2016. i criticized how nancy pelosi spent the run up to 20 hyping conspiracy theories and suggesting the election would be illegitimate if they lost. our side of the aisle defended the constitutional process despite pressure and we had a literal mob. now, president biden and leader schumer and other washington democrats who do not like their poll numbers, so they are reversing their tune yet again.

the people who spent november 2020 through january 2021 preaching sermons about the strength and sanctity of our democracy are now undertaking to delegitimize the next election in case they lose it. a sitting president invoking the civil war, shouting about totalitarianism and labeling millions of americans is to mystic enemies? we have a senate democratic leader who frequently cause american elections "a rigged game." this will not be repaired with more lies, more outrage and more rule breaking. unfortunately, president biden has rejected the better angels

of our nature. so it is the senate's responsibility to protect the country. this institution was constructed as a firewall against exactly the kind of rage and false asteria we saw on full display yesterday. it falls to the senate to put america on a better track. it falls to us. this institution cannot give into dishonorable tactics. we cannot surrender to this recklessness. we have to stand up, stand strong, protect the senate and defend the country. >> i