At Lewis Funeral, Obama Calls For Renewing Voting Rights Act

Former President Barack Obama has used Rep. John Lewis’ funeral to issue a stark warning that the voting rights and equal opportunity the late civil rights icon championed are under increasing threats heading into the 2020 election. Obama urged Congress to honor Lewis by revitalizing the Voting Rights Act, “the law he was willing to die for.” Obama called the Senate filibuster a relic of Jim Crow segregation and said it should be abolished if that's what it takes to pass such a law. The Democratic-led House has adopted a sweeping rewrite of the Voting Rights Act, and Democrats want to name the act after Lewis. But it faces opposition in the Republican-led Senate.