As Congress Stalls on Civil Rights Legislation During 118th Congress, Biden Administration Advances Critical Protections for Our Communities
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Patrick McNeil, [email protected]
WASHINGTON — The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights today released its Voting Record for the 118th Congress, which reflects the recorded votes taken by every senator and representative on the priorities of The Leadership Conference and its coalition members. This edition of the Voting Record, which has been issued for every Congress since 1969, highlights that lawmakers failed to send any meaningful civil rights legislation to the president’s desk during the 118th Congress. This is in stark contrast to the work that the White House and federal agencies have done during the past two years — and throughout the entire Biden administration — to enforce federal civil rights laws and protections. The administration’s actions — documented in a new online resource launched today — underscore the critical importance of having elected leaders who are working to defend and advance civil and human rights, including protecting health care access, reproductive freedom, LGBTQ rights, voting rights, disability rights, educational equity, economic justice and workers’ rights, data equity, and more.
“At this consequential moment for our democracy — as our nation faces ongoing attacks on our hard-won civil rights and on the diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility policies and programs that make our society more fair — it is disappointing that lawmakers made little progress toward enacting our coalition’s legislative priorities during the 118th Congress. While we celebrate the confirmation of historically diverse and highly qualified judicial nominees who will bring justice to more corners of the country, much more action is needed legislatively to ensure our nation lives up to its highest ideals,” said Jesselyn McCurdy, executive vice president of government affairs at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “We are grateful that the Biden administration has been in the business of enforcing civil rights laws and protections and finalizing critical regulations that will make a real difference in the lives of all people in America. In the final months of this Congress and President Biden’s term, we urge all of our elected officials to support our civil and human rights priorities in order to improve the lives and futures of communities across the nation.”
The Biden administration civil and human rights timeline, which includes hundreds of actions and is sorted both chronologically and by issue, is the newest phase of The Leadership Conference’s assessment of the administration’s civil and human rights record. It is not an exhaustive list of accomplishments and does not include most of the critically important individual enforcement actions taken by federal agencies charged with enforcing our landmark civil rights laws. However, because of their importance — and because of the marked shift they represent from the previous administration’s positions — we have included several examples of investigations opened in addition to litigation filed in major lawsuits in a number of statewide voting rights, reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, and other cases.
About The Leadership Conference’s Voting Record for the 118th Congress
During the first session of the 118th Congress — which featured unprecedented chaos in the House as Republican members ousted their own speaker — neither chamber passed any meaningful civil rights legislation. The second session saw House passage of a bill that would have expanded the child tax credit, though the legislation was eventually filibustered in the Senate six months later. The filibuster also blocked consideration of legislation that would establish a clear and comprehensive right to access contraception, in addition to a bill that would protect the right to access in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and other assisted reproductive technology that millions of people rely on to have children.
The Voting Record — neither an endorsement nor condemnation of any member of Congress — examined 19 House and 41 Senate votes taken from January 2023 through September 2024. It addresses several civil rights issues, including policing and criminal-legal reform, immigration, fair lending and economic justice, health care, education equity, key judicial and executive branch nominations, and more. Overall, 152 House members and 52 senators (including former and new members of both chambers) supported our positions on more than 90 percent of the votes included in the Voting Record.
The Leadership Conference’s Voting Record is available online here, and our timeline of Biden administration civil and human rights actions is available chronologically here and by issue here. To read past editions of the Voting Record dating back to the 91st Congress, click here.
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 240 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.
###