'Time for action:' Voting and civil rights groups intensify pressure on Biden and Congress to move on federal election bills

Activists say they also are growing increasingly impatient with President Joe Biden and his reluctance to demand an end to the Senate's filibuster rule that establishes a 60-vote threshold to advance most legislation in the chamber. They want Biden to exert pressure on Democratic holdouts on the filibuster to allow a pair of federal voting bills to pass the Senate by a simple majority vote. The bills, activists say, will counteract efforts by Republicans to restrict voting access as former President Donald Trump and his allies persist with false claims of a rigged election. "This is time for action, not words," said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, an election watchdog group. Biden "has to engage in this fight or he'll share responsibility for potentially millions of Americans losing the ability to vote in future federal elections."