Vice President Kamala Harris Says America Won’t Be ‘Model of Democracy’ If Voting Rights Are Not Passed

Vice President Kamala Harris said Sunday that America will no longer be the “role model” of democracy for the world if Congress fails to pass an elections bill.

Since West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin again ruined Democrats’ hope of passing President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better agenda, Democrats have switched their focus to voting rights legislation.

Harris, who many believe helped Biden garner the widespread support of Black Americans in the 2020 Presidential election, says the country can no longer be considered a beacon democracy if it cannot pass a comprehensive voting rights bill, something Republicans refuse to support.

“We have been a role model saying, ‘You can see this and aspire to this and reject autocracies and autocratic leadership,’” Harris said in an interview on CBS’s Face the Nation. “Right now, we’re about to take ourselves off the map as a role model if we let people destroy one of the most important pillars of a democracy, which is free and fair elections.”

Harris agreed with other Democratic lawmakers that voting rights is an urgent issues that must be addressed immediately adding that as they work to address the problem, it will become clear some want to suppress the vote of some Americans

Democrats are currently discussing whether to invoke the filibuster, a procedural obstacle that allows the minority party in Congress to stop legislation. However, Manchin and Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema are against using the filibuster.

The first Black, female vice president also commented on the COVID-19 pandemic and the Omicron variant. When asked if the country’s medical system is ready for a possible one million infections per day, Harris said yes.

“We are prepared for it, if you think about where we are today as compared to a year ago, we have vaccines, we are clear that wearing masks, especially in public spaces makes a difference,” Harris said. “We have the tools now to really keep ourselves safe. I think part of the issue that confronting us in society is ensuring everyone is doing everything they individually have the power to do to slow this thing down.”