Washington – U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Chairwoman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration with oversight over federal elections and campaign finance law, released the following statement regarding the vote to open debate on the Freedom to Vote Act, legislation she introduced in September with members of the voting rights working group convened by Leader Schumer which includes Senators Manchin, Merkley, Kaine, King, Padilla, Tester, and Warnock:

“Following the 2020 elections in which more Americans voted than ever before, we have seen unprecedented attacks on the freedom to vote in states across the country.

“Article I, Section 4, of the Constitution empowers Congress to ‘make or alter’ rules for federal elections ‘at any time.’ I believe that provision was designed to help us in times like this. 

“Americans have fought and died to protect the right to vote -- they’ve done so on the battlefield and in marches during the Civil Rights Movement. Fifty-six years after the Voting Rights Act was passed by this chamber and signed into law, we will not back down. We will continue to fight. We must restore the Senate so we can work together in the way the Founders intended to take on the challenges facing our democracy.”

As Chairwoman of the Rules Committee, Klobuchar has been a leading advocate for protecting the right to vote and increasing access to the electoral process. In July, Klobuchar chaired the first Rules Committee field hearing in 20 years which spotlighted the unprecedented attack on voting rights in Georgia. At the hearing, voters and election officials testified about how legislation recently passed in the state imposes identification requirements for absentee voters, limits the use of ballot drop boxes, and makes it a crime for volunteers to offer voters food and water to voters waiting in line. 

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