Schumer extends until Tuesday deadline on voting legislation, cancels Senate recess

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday evening announced the chamber would not debate and vote on his party's voting legislation by his deadline of Martin Luther King Jr. Day but that he's cancelled a January recess for members so they can take up the measure Tuesday. 

"Make no mistake, the United States Senate will for the first time this Congress debate voting rights legislation beginning on Tuesday," Schumer said on the Senate floor, according to CNN. 

He also said: "We will be postponing recess so the Senate can vote on voting rights."

The New York Democrat is forging ahead with the effort despite what seems like its unlikely passage.

Schumer doesn't have the required 60 votes in the evenly split, 50-50 Senate. And several members of his conference have repeatedly said they will not vote in favor of changing the Senate filibuster rule, which would effectively allow the measure to pass by a simple, 50-vote majority.

Schumer in his announcement also cited a forecasted weekend snowstorm and Hawaii Democrat Sen. Brian Schatz having tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this week, complicating Democrats' debate and voting timeline.