Dear John,

It’s been another week of jarring events that underscore the need for decisive Congressional action. On Monday, a gunman using a military grade weapon killed ten people at a market in Boulder, Colorado. The killings followed by less than a week the deadly rampage in Atlanta targeting Asian American women. 

Then on Thursday, the Georgia legislature passed some of the harshest voter suppression measures in the country including, among other provisions, voter ID requirements, limiting the use of ballot drop boxes, and—potentially the most dangerous—allowing the state to reverse local election officials’ decisions over the outcome of an election. The governor swiftly signed the bill into law, despite widespread opposition from voting rights leaders throughout the state, especially civil rights advocates. Even prominent business leaders lodged their objections. 

“They were shocked by the new Georgia and how it manifested itself and how they showed up in elections,” New Georgia Project CEO Nsé Ufot said, in reference to Republican officials and recent Democratic election victories. “And this is backlash. It’s mean. It’s petty. It’s racist. It’s anti-democratic.

Meaningful gun reform measures, including reinstating the ban on the sale of military style assault weapons, and voting rights protections embodied in the For the People Act (HR 1) and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act (HR 4), depend on changes to Senate filibuster rules. The rules as structured currently allow a minority of the Senate’s members to stop action on legislation that has broad support among Americans. Without a change to the Senate rules, the Equal Rights Amendment and the Violence Against Women Act (which also contains gun purchaser restrictions), both passed by the House last week and enjoying overwhelming public support, are also at risk of being stopped—again. 

This week’s episode of On the Issues With Michele Goodwin tackles questions about the filibuster: What purpose does the filibuster serve? Is it a barrier to real progress? And beyond the filibuster, we look at whether the Senate is truly representative: Is the electoral system fair? What other electoral reforms should we be considering? It’s worth a listen!

On the good news front, two teenagers in North Carolina write about their campaign to change state law and end child marriage, pointing out that “girls who marry young are 50 percent more likely to drop out of high school and four times less likely to graduate college.” And  we reported on renewed efforts to end the harmful Hyde Amendment denying abortion coverage under Medicaid and other federal insurance programs.  The EACH Act (Equitable Access to Care and Health) was introduced by Representatives Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), and U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.). 

And finally, to mark Equal Pay Day, Ms. spoke with activist Lilly Ledbetter and filmmaker Rachel Feldman, who is working to tell the story of Ledbetter’s 10-year legal battle that took her all the way to the Supreme Court in the landmark case Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. After she lost her case, Ledbetter set out to restore protections against sex discrimination in employment, resulting in the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, the first bill signed by Pesident Obama. 

Ledbetter’s story is one of persistence, as are the stories of the civil rights leaders in Georgia campaigning to fight voter suppression laws and the activists working to stop hate crimes and the senseless loss of life by gun violence in this country. How we address the roadblocks in the Senate will be key to progress on these and other critical issues in the coming months. With lives and futures at stake, there’s no time to waste.

For equality,

Kathy Spillar
Executive Editor