(Adds Biden at Capitol, Sinema on filibuster)
By Steve Holland and Jarrett Renshaw
Jan 13 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden sought to rally Senate Democrats at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday to alter the chamber's rules to pass voting-rights legislation, but his efforts were stymied before he arrived by opposition from a key moderate lawmaker from Arizona.
Biden, who arrived at the Capitol for his visit on Thursday afternoon, and many fellow Democrats have ratcheted up their campaign to pass voting-rights https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-champion-voting-rights-georgia-clock-ticks-reforms-2022-01-11 legislation after spending much of his first year in office debating spending bills focused on COVID-19 relief, infrastructure and social safety-net programs.
Democrats see the voting rights bill as a last chance to counter new voting restrictions in Republican-controlled states ahead of the Nov. 8 congressional elections, when they run the risk of losing their narrow majorities in at least one chamber.
Democrats say the bill would protect access to the ballot, particularly for minority and low-income voters. Black voters in modern elections have historically voted for Democratic candidates for federal office.
The bill passed in the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives on Thursday, but to overcome universal Republican opposition in the Senate, the chamber's filibuster rule https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-senate-democrats-mull-ending-filibuster-pass-voting-rights-reform-2022-01-11, which requires 60 of the 100 senators to agree on most legislation, would need to be changed.
Democratic U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema said in a speech https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-senator-sinema-defends-filibuster-despite-bidens-plea-reform-it-2022-01-13 on the Senate floor on Thursday -- less than an hour before Biden's arrival -- that the filibuster was necessary to prevent worsening political divisions in the country.
Democratic former President Barack Obama wrote in a USA Today opinion piece on Thursday that the filibuster rule has become a common tool for the chamber's minority to block important progress on issues supported by the majority of voters.
"We can't allow it to be used to block efforts to protect our democracy. That's why I fully support President Joe Biden's call to modify Senate rules as necessary to make sure pending voting rights legislation gets called for a vote," Obama wrote.
Democrats, who hold just 50 seats, remain divided on how to get around the rule that has hampered them.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-meet-with-senate-democrats-voting-rights-thursday-aide-2022-01-12 outlined a strategy to ensure a Senate floor debate on voting rights, after three separate attempts last year were stymied by Republicans.
The House repackaged and passed two elections-related bills as one, sending it to the Senate under a special procedure preventing Republicans from blocking debate. The bill was approved along party lines.
If Republicans remain opposed, that bill would not pass the Senate unless all Democrats agree to change the filibuster, Schumer said.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday reiterated that Republicans oppose voting-rights legislation and changes to the filibuster.
McConnell also criticized Biden for a speech in Atlanta on Tuesday pushing for an overhaul of the filibuster to pass voting rights bills, calling it "incoherent, incorrect and beneath his office."
Republican lawmakers in 19 states have passed dozens of laws making it harder to vote.
The Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act together would make Election Day a holiday, expand access to mail-in voting and strengthen U.S. Justice Department oversight of local election jurisdictions with a history of discrimination.
(Reporting by Steve Holland and Jarrett Renshaw; additional reporting by David Morgan and Moira Warburton; Writing by Jarrett Renshaw and Jeff Mason Editing by Mary Milliken, Heather Timmons, Grant McCool and Jonathan Oatis)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
