GOP filibuster halts Democrats’ signature voting bill

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democrats’ sweeping attempt to rewrite U.S. election and voting law has stalled in the U.S. Senate.

The bill failed in a key test vote Tuesday, blocked by a wall of united Republican opposition. The measure would bring the largest overhaul of the electoral system in a generation, striking down hurdles to voting that advocates view as the Civil Rights fight of the era.

Republican leader Mitch McConnell called the bill a “a solution looking for a problem.”

The rejection forces majority Democrats to reckon with what comes next in the narrowly divided Senate.

Pressure has been mounting on Democrats to change Senate filibuster rules to enact President Joe Biden’s agenda.