Progressive House Democrats unsuccessfully tried to lower the federal voting age from 18 to 16 in an amendment to the H.R. 1 voting rights package.
The vote on the amendment failed by a vote of 125 in favor and 302 against.
The Wall Street Journal noted scores of Democrats sided with Republicans in voting against the amendment. But the overall bill passed 220-210 on Wednesday night.
Republicans had criticized provisions in the bill to restore voting rights to felons who have been released from prison and one that would automatically register as voters those already in certain government databases. Those databases include unemployment-insurance programs or food stamps, even if the person was as young as 16 years old, according to the newspaper.
“They want 16-year-olds to be able to register to vote, as well as felons,” said Rep. Andy Biggs, R., Ariz. “What could possibly go wrong?”
He maintained that “this bill is a dubious path on which they wish to embark, and if we do not stop it again it will become increasingly difficult to depart to a better road that actually restores trust in America.”
Fox News reported that Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., one of the members of Congress behind the voting age amendment, had said on Monday: “A sixteen-year-old in 2021 possesses a wisdom and a maturity that comes from 2021 challenges, 2021 hardships, and 2021 threats. Now is the time for us to demonstrate the courage that matches the challenges of the modern-day 16 and 17-year-old.”
Source: Newmax
