MSNBC "The Rachel Maddow Show" - Transcript: Interview with Jeff Merkley

Interview

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MELBER: I`m joined now by that Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon. Thank you for being here today.

MERKLEY: Ari, it`s very good to be with you here on the 56th anniversary who can believe we`re still fighting this battle more than half a century later?

MELBER: Yes, I hear you. And we think about all these historical strands. What did it mean to you to be out with those officials and lawmakers, we just showed you it today? And what are you fighting for?

MERKLEY: It`s so helpful to have people on the front line who have experienced the direct impact of Republicans state house and Senate and governor who are trying to steal their right to vote, make it harder for them to vote by mail, to vote early, to do source (ph) the polls, buses for their church to go to the polls to vote, make it harder to vote even on election day. And this targeted strategy, that`s what existed before 1965. And it took incredible efforts to enforce the 65 laws before we finally got to the point that we really have secured the right of every American to fully participate in our democracy and shaping the future of our country.

But we`ve gotten so far back over the last couple of years, especially this last year as the state legislators start to - legislators start to - not the Texan Democrats, but the state Republicans back home, start to reshape the laws to block the ballot box. So, they`re coming to Washington and their bold walkout to defend the constitution of the United States, it helped focus the conversation extremely, extremely helpful. And I must say they are real freedom fighters.

MELBER: When you look at this suppression today, how much of it do you think is fundamentally racist which echoes this whole March since the 60s, and how much of it is just bare-knuckled partisanship, which may or may not be legal, as we live through a time where democracy itself has been challenged so much.

MERKLEY: Well, former President Trump saw in Georgia was that when people have access to the ballot box, community`s turnout, and they elected Democrats as senators from Georgia. And his response was, we`re going to make it harder for black Georgians to vote and black Americans all over the country. And these efforts are not just targeted to black communities, but other minority communities, the Native Americans and the college students, and so it`s a very targeted effect.

They know that

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If they can force people to vote on election day that there`s time tested strategies to make turnout low by reducing the number of precincts voting places, changing their location, putting whether the no parking, understaffed them, so people have to wait for five or six hours and in line, putting out false information about the date and location. They know these things. So, they are trying to cheat Americans out of the right to vote. It is this - so much of it is targeted to black Americans, there is a fundamentally racist element to it.

MELBER: And we`ve also been keeping an eye on this looming vote that we`re told would be in the Congress here, I want to read about sort of slimming down that John Lewis Act, Chuck Schumer reportedly telling you and your caucus, you`d have these voting rights votes within days, and that they would trim the ethics provisions from the original bill scale back the mandates for automatic voter edge. excise a public campaign financing system for senators, which is a big deal, but kind of a separate issue. And backing off this attempt to change the composition of the FEC.

It`s a mouthful of what`s cut out and then by implication, there`s still plenty left in the bill. What is this strategy mean of having a slimmed down version? And what would your response be to some skeptics who might be watching tonight and say, well, if you`re still waiting on Republicans, and it`s going to be that kind of thing, then how are you ever going to get any of this out without reforming the filibuster?

MERKLEY: So, there are three basic missions. One is to stop the dark money so that billionaires cannot buy elections, hiding and fighting - while hiding from the American public. The second goal is to stop gerrymandering. And there is intense conversation of Republicans right now about basically gerrymandering on steroids. And they know that in just four states, they can gerrymander another six to 13 seats, that would be a 26-vote swing in the House, they already feel like they have about a 15 seat advantage that is that 30 seat swings as it is.

In other words, the margin, which is eight seats right now should be about 38, if there was equal representation, and so that this is extremely important, and then defending the ballot, and that means early voting, that means vote by mail, that means making sure that people have full access on election day as well, these things will all be well protected in the bill that we`re producing.

So, you think of the first hurdle is, we have to get a bill that 50 members agree to even though they come from very different systems of voting, so lay out this national set of standards, and these end to dark money and the end to gerrymandering, lay that out and agree on it. And that`s what we`re working on right now. And I think we`ve narrowed it down from 100 issues to about two or three, and we`re working hard to resolve the final pieces.

Then, when we are away from Washington, there`s going to be an intense effort by several of our colleagues to recruit Republicans to join us, because they should join us, they swore an oath to the constitution to defend the rights of Americans to vote. And if we come back and we do not have their support, then we have to find the path for 50 of us to get this done, unfortunately, without them. And I`m very confident, we will find a way.

MELBER: Interesting. Senator Merkley, I want to thank you very much. And coming up, embracing the big lie and its consequences for everyone except maybe Trump, but could that change, stay with us.

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