House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., visited the White House on Friday afternoon to discuss trying to pass narrower voting rights legislation.
According to a White House readout of the meting, Pelosi, Schumer, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris "agreed on the moral imperative of passing legislation to protect against voter suppression, electoral subversion, dark money, and partisan gerrymandering and will continue working together toward that goal urgently."
The meeting between the Democratic leaders and the Biden administration came as both House and Senate Democrats seek to advance a slimmed-down package.
In the House, a group of 34 Democrats — many of whom are facing tough re-elections next fall — have launched an internal push for streamlined voting legislation, according to a letter obtained by NBC News. And in the Senate, a group of Democrats expressed optimism this week that they could reach a deal on voting legislation as soon as next week while a more sweeping bill, the "For the People Act," remains stalled.
The House members are seeking voting legislation focused on "pre-empt[ing] harmful laws already passing in state houses across the country" and suggest eliminating proposals from the recent failed legislative effort not directly connected to ballot access, such as the campaign finance items contained in the "For the People Act."
On Friday, Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., the House majority whip, told reporters House Democrats will release the text of a bill next week, even though the chamber is scheduled to be on break.
In the Senate, a group led by Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., could unveil legislation by early next week.
It is unclear whether any slimmed-down proposal would garner enough Republican support to meet the Senate's 60-vote threshold to advance. Republicans have not expressed interest in passing federal voting rights legislation as GOP-controlled statehouses across the country advance their own new election laws — efforts that have come as former President Donald Trump continues to spread falsehoods about his election loss last fall.
