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US Democrats, alongside other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, speak near the Senate chamber about their support of voting rights legislation at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, January 19, 2022
VOTING legislation that Democrats and civil rights leaders say is vital to protect US democracy collapsed on Wednesday night when two senators refused to join their own party in changing Senate rules to overcome a Republican filibuster.
The outcome was a stinging defeat for President Joe Biden and his party at the close of his first year in office.
Despite a day of piercing debate and speeches, Democrats failed to persuade senators Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia to change the Senate procedures on the Freedom To Vote Bill and allow a simple majority to advance it.
Mask-off outbursts by Maga insiders and most strikingly, the destruction and reconstruction of the presidential seat, with a huge new $300m ballroom, means Trump isn’t planning to leave the White House when his term ends, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
President hoped to give voters chance to decide on 8-hour work days and double pay for holiday work
