Senate Democrats propose sweeping election reform bill amid likely opposition

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Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) speaks as Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), left, and Tom Udall (D-NM), right, listen during a news conference in the U.S. Capitol building on June 23, 2016 in Washington, DC.

Senate Democrats on Wednesday unveiled a sweeping bill to protect and expand voting access, limit big-money influence in elections and boost public officials’ ethics requirements, following the passage of near-identical legislation in the House.

But even Democrats doubt that the ambitious legislation stands much of a chance of making it through the Republican-held Senate led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

The “For The People Act,” led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., and Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., offers a laundry list of reforms that its Democratic sponsors claim will “put power back in the hands of the American people.”

The Senate bill was introduced less than three weeks after its so-called companion legislation in the House, H.R. 1, cleared that Democrat-led chamber on a 234-193 party-line vote.

McConnell’s stance on H.R. 1 suggests he will refuse to allow a vote on the Senate Democrats’ bill. In a January op-ed for The Washington Post, McConnell slammed what he dubbed the “Democrat Politician Protection Act,” claiming it was a “power grab” filled with “far-left proposals” and intended as “simply a naked attempt to change the rules of American politics to benefit one party.”

The White House said in a statement in early March that “if H.R. 1 were presented to the President, his advisors would recommend he veto the bill.”

Neither the White House nor McConnell’s office immediately responded to a request for comment on the legislation.

Democrats recognize that their bill faces long odds of passage in the Senate, let alone making it past Trump’s desk.

“Senator McConnell has already indicated that he doesn’t intend to bring it up,” a Democratic aide familiar with the legislation told CNBC. “But we’re certainly not giving up.”

The aide said there was “no question” that special interest groups were “counting on McConnell to do their bidding,” and admitted that “he probably will in this case again.”

But, the aide added, “we’re going to make him as uncomfortable as possible.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.