President Joe Biden is praising companies that are speaking out about controversial new voting laws being pushed by state Republican lawmakers around the country.
Biden was asked on Tuesday if he believes the Masters Golf Tournament should be moved out of Georgia to protest the state’s new controversial voting law that was signed into law in March.
“I think that’s up to the Masters,” Biden said. “It is reassuring to see that for-profit operations and businesses are speaking up about how these new Jim Crow laws are just antithetical to who we are.”
He continued, “There’s another side to it, too. The other side to it, too, is when they, in fact, move out of Georgia, the people who need the help the most, people who are making hourly wages, sometimes get hurt the most. I think it’s a very tough decision for a corporation to make or a group to make, but I respect when they make that judgment. And I support whatever judgment they make.
“But the best way to deal with this is for Georgia and other states to smarten up. Stop it. Stop it.”
Watch the video below:
Pres. Biden says it's "reassuring" to see corporations opposing Georgia's sweeping voting law, but cautions businesses leaving the state could hurt workers.
— ABC News (@ABC) April 6, 2021
"The best way to deal with this is for Georgia and other states to smarten up. Stop it. Stop it." https://t.co/t9JARDQ9kn pic.twitter.com/ENLJ0xVEeh
Biden has blasted Georgia’s new voting law as “Jim Crow in the 21st Century.”
The law implements new voter I.D. requirements for requesting absentee ballots, shortens the time frame for requesting absentee ballots, bans election officials from mailing ballot applications to all voters, expands the time for early voting, and makes it illegal for anyone aside from election workers to hand out food or water to people standing in line to vote — within 150 feet of a polling location.
Additionally, it limits the number of ballot drop box locations and essentially bans mobile voting unless there is a state of emergency.
Several business executives have spoken out to denounce the law.
Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian called the law “unacceptable” and said the “entire rationale for this bill was based on a lie” about baseless claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidentiial election.
Delta is one of Georgia’s largest employers.
James Quincey, the CEO of Coca-Cola which is based in the state, told CNBC on Wednesday that the law is “wrong” and should be changed.
And Major League Baseball (MLB) announced that it would move its All-Star Game out of Georgia in response to the state’s new voting law.
The CEOs of Dell Technologies and American Airlines have also spoken out about a new proposed voting law in Texas that they say will restrict access to voting.
