WASHINGTON, D.C. – Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) says the US republic ‘remains under attack,’ he’s reflecting on the one-year anniversary of the January 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol.
In a statement Thursday, Senator Casey even warned if voter protections aren’t restored and strengthened, a future authoritarian could succeed, where the former president and ‘his insurrectionists’ failed.
Casey also had some sharp GOP criticism, saying some of their members continue to undermine elections and democratic principles, instead pushing for accountability and remorse.
See his full statement below:
“January 6, 2021 was one of the darkest days in our Nation’s history. After months of lying about the election and stoking baseless conspiracy theories, the former President encouraged a mob of thousands of armed insurrectionists to attack the United States Capitol in order to overturn the results of a free and fair election and keep himself in power. He even turned them against his own Vice President, such that they chanted ‘Hang Mike Pence’ in the halls of Congress. The former President’s incitement of violent extremists led to at least five deaths and injuries to nearly 140 members of law enforcement. Countless more continue to carry emotional scars from that day. Even after the violent attack, a group of Republicans in the House and the Senate continued to perpetuate the Big Lie by voting to overturn the will of Pennsylvanians later that evening.
“Instead of accountability and remorse, members of the Republican Party continue to undermine our elections and our democratic principles. Republican officials across the country have embraced the former President’s Big Lie by introducing and enacting an unprecedented number of voter suppression measures and politicizing nonpartisan election administration functions. If we do not restore and strengthen voter protections nationwide, a future authoritarian could succeed where the former President and his insurrectionists failed. To live up to our national ideals and fortify our elections against partisan subversion, the Senate has an obligation to pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, two commonsense bills which would improve access to the ballot, protect our democracy and restore the full strength of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
