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00:00Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer today begins a process that is supposed to lead to votes on two major pieces of voting legislation despite the fact that the odds are against him to set the stage. We turn now to Washington correspondent and rehire Darren Emory. Thanks so much for being there. Up on Capitol Hill. So what is the theory behind what Chuck Schumer is doing right now. Because everybody says he's not going to get it. Maybe we're all wrong. Well it certainly looks like they are not going to be victorious right David in these two separate legislations. One is actually bringing voting rights on debate which Senator Schumer about twenty five minutes ago said it has opened for debate. And but even if they can get the Democrats to vote on that they're not going to get the 10 Republicans to sign up. And then there's going to be a moment where he wants to close debate and that's really where he would need that 60 threshold vote. And this is where David he could potentially have an amendment and he would just need a simple majority. But this would be altering of the filibuster. And senators are going to be meeting later this evening to discuss just that. But we already know two key senators Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kirsten Cinema of Arizona have already said that they have a lot of issues with altering getting rid of the filibuster. So already the legislation is pretty much dead on arrival. But we just moments ago heard from the president's press secretary Jen Psaki and she reiterated what the president had said last week which is he believes the American people should deserve to know where every single legislator stands when it comes to voting. Right. So it does seem like this is just to set the record straight on where your representative stands when it comes to voting David. So Emory on the filibuster issue I've heard at least two or three different approaches to be modifying it. Do we know which one Chuck Schumer might be pursuing. Because there are alternatives that just doing just doing away with it altogether. Right. The nuclear option I guess would be to just do away with it as you say altogether. There are other options potentially altering it whether or not to open or closed debate or getting rid of or the talking filibuster. But at the moment we don't know which route they're going to go. But David they're going to be meeting this evening around 5:00 p.m. And so around that time potentially we would know what route Senator Schumer is going to take. So there are some other things up on Capitol Hill. First of all they've got to build back better which I haven't heard much about in recent weeks it seems have gone quiet. They also have funding of the government and by the way with the State of the Union address coming up. That's right. So there's a litany of issues. The first being of course the government's going to be running out of funding in one month. Exactly. February 18th. So you have you have the Appropriations Committee from the Senate and the House all working together potentially on that. Also David they could link with that funding measure potentially Covid relief bill aimed towards businesses. That's the thing that there was discussion up on here on the Hill. And as you mentioned Bill back better. It is still being discussed over the weekend. Tim Kaine said he thinks the legislation as a full package is dead but potentially you could see individual policies come up in conversation and be able to pass. And that would be a win at least for that to be back into the debate and discussion here on the Hill before the president addresses the union. There was a report from a Reuters news agency today that perhaps the White House would go forward with some of the environmental proposals in the bill back better and leave behind the chosen task later. I understand the White House has knocked that down now but these are sort of trial balloons you might be seeing. Yeah I think you will see a number of trial trial balloons and also depends really. Right what legislative office it's coming out of because many senators have very different priorities when it comes to when you look at the spectrum of the policies that are and build back better. Jen Psaki just briefing the press moments ago was talking about the fact that she's excited and the White House is excited that they're still discussing this. But really for the president pivotal moment pivotal policies in Bill back better was child care elder care health care. So they definitely want to see some action on that while you will see other senators maybe talk about and discuss potentially a smaller climate bill that can get through. But David again this is going to take months of negotiations but potentially gives the Democrats a little bit of fire under their belt as they head into those midterm. Well that's the issue November. Exactly. And really what are they going to have to show come the midterms.

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Democrats Push to Pass Voting Rights Legislation Again

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