Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday defended President Joe Biden’s speech on voting rights earlier this week and promised that Democrats won’t give up in their pursuit to pass legislation.

On Tuesday in Atlanta, Biden called on Congress to pass proposals aimed at protecting voting rights even if it means creating a carve-out of Senate filibuster rules requiring 60 votes to begin debate on a bill.

Two bills — the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act — were crafted by Democrats in response to a wave of laws passed last year by states with Republican legislatures that restrict voting. The bills have stalled in the 50-50 Senate. 

They include measures such as making Election Day a federal holiday, ensuring an early voting period and no-excuse mail voting, ending extreme gerrymandering, and restoring the full protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

On Thursday, the Democratic-led House passed repackaged legislation that combined the two bills into one.

In his speech Tuesday, Biden accused former President Donald Trump and his allies of trying to “disenfranchise anyone who votes against them” and said, “I will defend the right to vote, our democracy against all enemies — foreign and, yes, domestic.”

The remarks drew backlash from Republicans. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday called Biden’s rhetoric "incoherent, incorrect and beneath his office."

“Twelve months ago, this president said we should see each other not as adversaries but as neighbors,” McConnell, R-Ky., said. “Yesterday, he called millions of Americans his domestic enemies. Twelve months ago, the President called on Americans to join forces, stop the shouting, lower the temperature, but yesterday, he shouted that if you disagree with him, you're George Wallace.”

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, accused Biden of going down “the same tragic road” Trump did by casting doubt on the American election system.

“This is a sad, sad day,” Romney said Wednesday. “I expected more of President Biden, who came into office with the stated goal of bringing the country together.”

In an interview Thursday with NBC’s “Today” show, Harris defended Biden’s forceful criticism of Republicans, in which he compared them to civil rights opponents, including Wallace and Jefferson Davis.

“President Biden took the, I believe, right and courageous step to say that Senate rules should not get in the way of protecting the American people's access to the ballot,” she told “Today” co-host Craig Melvin. “And he compared this time to a previous time in our history, which is apt for comparison.”

But Republicans are not the only ones blocking voting rights legislation. Moderate Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema have said they don’t support a change to the filibuster rules. And the clock is running out for Democrats before Monday’s planned vote on voting rights in the Senate. 

Harris said she will “not absolve the 50 Republicans in the United States Senate from responsibility for upholding one of the most basic and important tenets of our democracy.” When asked specifically about Manchin and Sinema, the vice president added, “I don't think anyone should be absolved from the responsibility of preserving and protecting our democracy, especially when they took an oath to protect and defend our Constitution.”

But she took exception to the insinuation that Manchin and Sinema are lost causes. 

“We are not giving up. You're acting as though it's over,” Harris said to Melvin. “I'm saying it's not over, and we don't give up.”

Melvin also asked Harris if she anticipated being Biden’s running mate again in 2024. She answered: “I'm sorry, we are thinking about today. … The American people sent us here to do a job, and right now there's a lot of work to be done. And that's my focus.”