当乔·拜登总统准备周四前往国会山就选举改革召集参议院民主党人时，一名明显愤怒的共和党领导人米奇·麦康奈尔周三回击说，他不认识一天前在佐治亚州发表关于投票权的激烈演讲的人。
麦康奈尔将拜登的讲话描述为“非常非常不符合总统身份”，认为这些言论是“语无伦次、不正确的，有失他的身份”。在拜登的讲话中，总统呼吁参议院“以任何需要改变的方式”改变规则，以通过民主党的投票法案
这位肯塔基州共和党人多次反对拜登将共和党人与吉姆·克劳时代的立法联系起来，以阻止现在的选举改革，因为去年至少有19个共和党领导的州通过了法律，布伦南司法中心的专家说这些法律限制了投票。
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
参议院少数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔在每周参议院会议后接受记者采访...
“我们有一位在任总统——一位在任总统——援引内战，叫嚣极权主义，并把数百万美国人贴上他的国内敌人的标签?”麦康奈尔说。"昨天，他在火上浇了一大罐汽油."
拜登一天前在亚特兰大发表讲话，强烈支持改变参议院阻挠议事规则，以便民主党能够通过在参议院停滞不前的两项关键投票法案。
拜登说:“宪法没有任何地方赋予少数人单方面阻止立法的权利。“美国人民已经等得够久了。参议院必须采取行动。”
反过来，麦康奈尔周三结束了他的发言，恳求他的同事们——包括间接打电话给参议员乔·曼钦(Joe Manchin)，他试图让他改变党派——由他们来捍卫参议院的传统。
“不幸的是，拜登总统拒绝了‘我们天性中更好的天使’。”所以，保护国家是参议院的责任。这个机构是作为一个防火墙来构建的，以抵御我们昨天看到的那种愤怒和虚假的歇斯底里，”麦康奈尔说。
拜登在前参议院多数党领袖哈里·里德(Harry Reid)的灵柩前在国会大厦圆形大厅致哀后，美国广播公司新闻部(ABC News)的特里什·特纳(Trish Turner)问他，“总统先生，对米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)说你昨天的演讲‘非常不像总统’，你有什么回应吗?”
拜登停顿了一下，转过身，摘下黑色口罩，回答说:“我喜欢米奇·麦康奈尔。他是我的朋友。”
参议院多数党领袖查克·舒默承诺，最早将于周三就民主党投票立法的投票展开摊牌。
这位民主党领导人周二晚上会见了亚利桑那州参议员基尔斯顿·西内马(Kyrsten Sinema)，这是另一位没有承诺阻挠议事但表示支持选举改革的民主党人，然后在周三上午会见了曼钦约一个小时，他试图推进拜登的议程。
舒默承认，他可能没有足够的票数推进这些法案，但他表示，他希望通过投票迫使参议员公开表态，向美国人和历史表明他们在民主党称之为对民主至关重要的问题上的立场。
对这些法案进行记录表决可能被视为朝着就改变或取消这些措施的阻挠进行另一次表决迈出的第一步，鉴于马丁·路德·金日的象征意义，这一表决可能会在周一进行。
在周四访问国会山之前，拜登周二在亚特兰大试图羞辱16名现任共和党人，他们之前投票延长选举权法案任期，现在支持投票权。
他说:“没有一个共和党人表现出勇气，站出来对抗一个被击败的总统，保护美国的投票权，没有一个人。“一个也没有。”
虽然在国会任职36年的拜登过去一直为阻挠议事辩护，但他改变了对选举改革的态度，周二表示，不应该允许少数参议员阻止所有美国人的投票权行动。
McConnell blasts Biden's voting rights speech as 'rage and false hysteria'
As President Joe Biden prepared to head to Capitol Hill on Thursday to rally Senate Democrats on election reform, a visibly angry Republican Leader Mitch McConnell fired back Wednesday, saying he didn't recognize the man who delivered the fiery speech in Georgia on voting rights one day earlier.
McConnell characterized Biden's speech -- in which the president called for the Senate to change its rules by "whichever way they need to be changed" in order to pass Democrats' voting bills -- as "profoundly, profoundly un-presidential," deeming the remarks a "rant" that "was incoherent, incorrect and beneath his office."
The Kentucky Republican repeatedly took issue with Biden linking Republicans to Jim Crow-era legislation to standing in the way of election reform now, as at least 19 GOP-led states have passed laws in the last year that experts at the Brennan Center for Justice say restrict voting access.
"We have a sitting president -- a sitting president -- invoking the Civil War, shouting about totalitarianism and labeling millions of Americans his domestic enemies?" McConnell said. "Yesterday, he poured a giant can of gasoline on the fire."
Biden, one day earlier in Atlanta, spoke forcefully in favor of changing the Senate filibuster rule so that Democrats could pass two key voting bills that have stalled in the Senate.
"Nowhere does the Constitution give a minority the right to unilaterally block legislation," Biden said. "The American people have waited long enough. The Senate must act."
McConnell, in turn, closed his floor speech on Wednesday by imploring his colleagues -- including an indirect call to Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., whom he has courted to change parties -- that it's up to them to defend tradition in the Senate.
"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 -- exactly the kind of rage and false hysteria we saw on full display yesterday," McConnell said.
After Biden paid respects at the casket of former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in the Capitol Rotunda, ABC News' Trish Turner asked him, "Mr. President, any response to Mitch McConnell who said your speech yesterday was 'profoundly un-presidential'?”
Biden paused, turned, removed his black mask and answered, "I like Mitch McConnell. He’s a friend."
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had promised to move toward a showdown on votes on Democrats' voting legislation as soon as Wednesday.
The Democratic leader met Tuesday night with Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema -- another Democrat who has not committed to a filibuster carveout but says she supports election reforms -- and then with Manchin on Wednesday morning for around an hour as he navigates a way to push through Biden's agenda.
While acknowledging he likely doesn't have the votes to move the bills forward, Schumer said he wants to force a vote to put senators on the record to show Americans -- and history -- where they stand on the issue that Democrats call vital to democracy.
A recorded vote on those bills could be seen as the first move toward another vote on changing or eliminating the filibuster on the measures, which could potentially fall on Monday given the symbolism of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Ahead of his visit to Capitol Hill on Thursday, Biden in Atlanta on Tuesday attempted to shame the 16 sitting Republicans who voted to extend the Voting Rights Act before -- to support voting rights now.
"Not a single Republican has displayed the courage to stand up to a defeated president to protect America's right to vote, not one," he said. "Not one."
While Biden, having served in Congress for 36 years, has defended the filibuster in the past, he changed his tune regarding election reforms, saying Tuesday that a minority of senators shouldn't be permitted to block actions on voting rights for all Americans.
