In their effort to advance voting rights legislation that Congress has been working on, the Biden administration is considering tying the passage of the bill to the events of last January 6, when rioters attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Although there is some pushback from members of his own team who believe that Biden’s focus should be on the social spending bill that so far appears stalled in the Senate, the president wants to “clear the deck” in advance of the voting rights bill, and could use the example of Trump’s lies about the 2020 election to make his point.

If we can get the congressional voting rights done, we should do it … There’s nothing domestically more important than voting rights.

Civil rights leaders agree. Reverend Al Sharpton has been vocal about voting rights after almost 20 GOP-led state legislatures have tightened voting restrictions in their own states, squeezing out the marginalized from even participating in our democracy:

The time is now. The urgency could not be more palpable than it is now. An inaction at this point would lead to an inaction of Black voters. People are saying, ‘If they don’t do this, I’m not voting.’ People are saying they feel betrayed.

Although the president has spoken publicly many times about the importance of preserving democracy through expansive and inclusive voting rights measures, he has not so far taken any specific actions. Biden also has failed to capitalize on the evidence that the Capitol Riot Committee has uncovered, linking the previous White House to possible collaboration between lawmakers and rioters who attempted to stop Biden’s certification as the winner of the election.

By contrast, the US Justice Department has already sued the state of Texas over its newly-drawn electoral maps, which the DOJ complains constitute a violation of the Voting Rights Act.

If Biden steps up his game and ties the importance of passing voting rights laws to one of the worst days for democracy in American history, he could not only get what the country wants and deserves, but he might even secure himself a little extra political capital in what has turned out to be a very difficult presidency so far.

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