Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked a Democratic measure to revive the Equal Rights Amendment, dealing yet another blow to supporters who have pushed for more than five decades to amend the Constitution to prohibit discrimination based on sex.
Democrats failed to win the necessary 60 votes to move forward with the resolution, which would have removed a 1982 deadline for state ratification and reopened the process to amend the Constitution.
The 51-47 vote included support from two Republicans, Maine Sen. Susan Collins and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski — well short of the 10 GOP votes needed.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., put the resolution up for a vote this week, even as it was unlikely to pass. He said it was especially timely in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision last year to overturn Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to an abortion.
“Women in America have far fewer rights today than they did even a year ago,” Schumer said.
After the vote, Schumer said the Senate is “not giving up,” and would keep trying to pass the measure.
Congress sent the amendment, which guarantees men and women equal rights under the law, to the states in 1972. It gave states seven years to ratify it, later extending the deadline to 1982. But the amendment wasn’t ratified by the required three-quarters of states before the deadline.
At the same time, several states — including Nebraska, Tennessee, Idaho, Kentucky and South Dakota — have attempted to remove their prior approval.
States can support the federal version individually, though it is not ratified into the U.S. Constitution, so those ratifications remain mostly symbolic.
In a statement of policy, the White House said that President Joe Biden “strongly supports” extending the deadline and that it is long past time.
“Gender equality is not only a moral issue – the full participation of women and girls across all aspects of our society is essential to our economic prosperity, our security, and the health of our democracy,” the White House said.
Republicans have argued that Democrats are trying to rewrite history.
“The Democrats’ novel unconstitutional approach bypasses states’ rights and circumvents the process our founders put in place,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., after the vote. “This is simply another liberal wish list item meant to drive a political wedge.”
Face to face for just over two hours, President Joe Biden and Russia’s Vladimir Putin squared off in a secure video call Tuesday as the U.S. president put Moscow on notice that an invasion of Ukraine would bring enormous harm to the Russian economy.
Ahead of Instagram head Adam Mosseri's congressional hearing on the mental impact of the social platform on teens, the company announced a number of updates aimed at teen safety.
Troubled Chinese real estate giant Evergrande is once again nearing the brink of collapse. Shares of Evergrande sunk to a new record low on Monday, closing down 20 percent, as debt default fears resurfaced. Drew Bernstein, co-chairman at consultancy MarcumBP, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss. He said U.S. investors have to understand that "there is no company in China that's too big to fail, that's for sure," and that the Chinese government will be prioritizing the social welfare of the populace. Bernstein did note that it would be a managed collapse in some form.
Joan Greve, a politics reporter at The Guardian US, joined Wake Up With Cheddar to break down the implications of the Biden administration announcing a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing games in response to allegations of human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims. She noted the significance of the move, assessing the already frayed relationship between the U.S. and China. "The Chinese have said that a boycott would be politically manipulative, and now they are actually threatening countermeasures," she said. "And that will certainly have an impact on the spirit of the games at the very least."
The Biden administration has reached an agreement with the Mexican government to resume the "Remain-in-Mexico" policy under court order. By reinstating a Trump-era border policy, asylum-seekers will be forced to stay in Mexico until their U.S. immigration court date. The program is set to resume on Monday. Ryan Devereaux, a reporter for The Intercept, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
The U.S. announced it will not send any official representation to the upcoming Beijing winter Olympics. Cheddar's Hena Doba speaks with East Asia expert Michael Swaine about the reasons behind the diplomatic move.
COVID-19 is still battering the nation's criminal justice system, causing a massive backlog in cases and delaying verdicts for months on end. This, combined with the fear of crowded prisons during a pandemic, has prompted many defendants to plead guilty in exchange for time served or probation. Tina Luongo, attorney-in-charge of the Criminal Defense Practice, joined Cheddar to discuss the court backlog, the rise in plea bargains, and why this was an issue long before the pandemic.
With so many high-profile court cases taking over the media, from the trial over the murder of Ahmaud Arbery to the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse to the ongoing Elizabeth Holmes trial, Cheddar took a look at these cases and why there is such a big interest in them. Rachel Fiset, a white collar criminal defense lawyer and partner with Zeiback, Fiset, and Coleman, and Bryan Hance, attorney-at-law, professor, and academic program director of the pre-law and paralegal studies program at National University, joined Cheddar for a roundtable discussion on why there is so much public interest in so-called courtroom drama.
Carlo and Baker discuss the sweeping new vaccine mandate in NYC that will target all private businesses. Plus, Trump's media venture gets its CEO and more.
