Joe Biden has renewed calls for Election Day in the United States to be a holiday following a Republican block on a voting rights bill.
Speaking days after senate Republicans refused to start debating the For The People Act on Tuesday – all but killing it off – the US President said he wanted Election Day to be “a day off”.
"If I had my way, and I think it is really important, every Election Day would be a day off,” said Mr Biden to reporters on Thursday.
A holiday for workers on Election Day – which falls in an election year on the first Tuesday of November – had been included in a version of the For The People Act.
It was defeated 50-50 in the Senate days after Democrats and Republicans announced a compromise on a number of issues, including two weeks of early voting, automatic voter registration, and voter identification.
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Including a requirement for voter ID had been at the request of Republicans, and Democratic senator Joe Manchin, who had refused to back the For The People Act before Tuesday.
The senator has also defended a 60-50 rule for voting — known as the filibuster — allowing Republicans to block bills from Democrats, who hold the deciding tie in the second chamber of Congress.
Following that defeat, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told MSNBC on Thursday: "You're going to hear a lot more from the president next week on voting rights.
"He's going to deliver some remarks to the American people and talk a lot more about what he wants to do.”
Mr Biden himself said he would keep arguing for voting rights following an agreement on an infrastructure bill with Republicans, who could still compromise on the issue of voting rights in future.
It follows concerns that voter access is being restricted by Republicans across the US, on the back of false theories of election fraud in 2020.
"There's also work that needs to be done out in states with activists, empowering, engaging and standing by their sides and he's going to do that," Ms Psaki added on Thursday of voting rights.
Additional reporting by Reuters.
