Schumer pushes voting bill to 'protect democracy'

"If we do not act to protect our elections, the horrors of January 6th will risk becoming not the exception but the norm," he later said from the Senate floor. "The stakes could not be higher."

On Monday, Schumer said the narrowly Democratic-controlled chamber needed to consider a change to its filibuster rule after a wave of Republican-led states last year passed new restrictions on voting, inspired by Republican former President Donald Trump's false claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election he lost by a substantial margin.

Senate Democrats tried to bring the voting-rights bill to a floor vote four times last year, and were repeatedly blocked by Republicans, who made use of the filibuster rule that requires 60 of the 100 senators to agree to advance most legislation.

Democrats could change the chamber's rules with just a simple majority, but two centrist members of their party - Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema - have repeatedly voiced objection to doing so.