Clyburn says election reform bills ‘may be on life support’ but aren’t dead

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) on Sunday said election reform bills “may be on life support” on Capitol Hill but are not dead.

Asked by co-anchor Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union” if he believes the election reform bills currently stalled on Capitol Hill are dead, Clyburn unequivocally said no but did suggest that they are in a tenuous state.

“No, I don’t. They may be on life support, but, you know, John Lewis and others did not give up after the ’64 Civil Rights Act. That’s why he got the ’65 Voting Rights Act,” Clyburn said.

The South Carolina Democrat also said the party is “not giving up.”

“So, I want to tell everybody, we’re not giving up. We’re going to fight. And we plan to win because the people of good will are going to break their silence and help us win this battle,” he added. 

Clyburn’s comments come as the Democrats’ prospects of passing voting rights legislation look grim, after Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) reiterated their support for the 60-vote legislative filibuster last week. Democrats were looking to change Senate rules to pass election reform amid GOP opposition to such legislation.

Senate Republicans last year blocked the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. The House last week approved a bill that includes provisions from both pieces of legislation, sending it to the Senate for consideration. The upper chamber will take up the bill on Tuesday.