Vice President Kamala Harris hosted Texas legislators at the White House Wednesday a few weeks after they blocked a proposal to restrict voting in their state by walking out of a legislative session.

What You Need To Know

  • Vice President Kamala Harris hosted Texas legislators Wednesday at the White House a few weeks after they blocked a proposal to restrict voting in their state

  • Harris has been tasked by President Joe Biden to work on the protection of voting rights across the country

  • Democrats have introduced federal voting rights legislation, which passed the House earlier this year, though its passage in the Senate is uncertain

  • Earlier this month, Attorney General Merrick Garland promised his department would "scrutinize" and work to prevent voting rights violations

The Texas Democrats narrowly prevented passage of the bill in a majority-Republican legislature, a measure that would limit early voting hours, ban drive-through voting, make it easier to overturn an election and restrict mail-in ballots, among other things. 

Harris invited the group to the White House Wednesday as part of her newest assignment from President Joe Biden: to tackle the issue of voting rights.

“All citizens have the right to vote, constitutionally,” she said. “We are not asking for the bestowal of a right. We are talking about the preservation of a right that is the right of citizenship.”

Still, it’s unclear what Vice President Harris can do herself when it comes to the Texas bill, which Republican Governor Greg Abbott has vowed to bring back up in a special session later this year.

Already, Florida and Georgia’s governors have signed new voting restrictions into law, both restricting mail-in voting and ballot boxes, among other new limits. Other Republican lawmakers across the country have moved to do the same.

“You are courageous leaders, and you are American patriots,” Harris told the 16 state lawmakers from both the Texas House and Senate, later adding: “We know we have a great challenge in front of us and therefore a fight, which is to fight for every American’s right."

Democrats have proposed two major pieces of federal legislation to protect voting rights — the For the People Act, S.1, which is in the hands of the Senate, and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which has not yet been introduced this year.

The broader S.1 faces an uphill battle in the upper chamber of Congress due to the filibuster and some doubts from moderate Democrats.

In the meantime, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced last week that the Justice Department would pay close attention to changes to voting laws in the coming months, including by doubling the enforcement staff of its Civil Rights Division.

“We are scrutinizing new laws that seek to curb voter access, and where we see violations, we will not hesitate to act,” Garland said.

The attorney general said the department would review the laws especially “to determine whether they discriminate against black voters and other voters of color.” 

He also said the DOJ would give states specific guidance as they redraw their congressional districts to “make clear the voting protections that apply to all jurisdictions.”