In Support of Voting Rights and the Voter Rights Act

Floor Speech

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the right of all Americans to vote without fear of discrimination, no matter their race, color, or political beliefs.

In 1965, Congress passed and President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act. The enactment of VRA fulfilled a century of work towards guaranteeing that our most fundamental right--the right to vote--would be protected for all Americans, including in states and local jurisdictions that had historically denied or disempowered minority voters.

The protections provided in VRA ensure that historically disenfranchised communities in our country are now able to freely vote. The very chamber we stand in today is a reflection of the success of VRA, seen in the election of dozens of Members of Congress who come from these very communities.

A year ago today, however, the successes of VRA became endangered when the Supreme Court ruled in a controversial 5-4 decision that the coverage formula in Section 4(b) of the Act, which had been used to determine the states and political subdivisions subject to Section 5 preclearance, was unconstitutional.

As a result of the Court's opinion in Shelby, the right to vote for millions of Americans, including my constituents in Houston and Harris County, are now endangered. Immediately after the high court's ruling, the State of Texas announced that it would put into immediate effect a voter ID law that had been previously blocked by a federal court because the state law's restrictions target the very communities that are meant to be protected under Section 5.

Congress must act. The right to vote for all is at the very heart of our democracy.
Bipartisan legislation, the Voting Rights Amendment Act, has been introduced in this Congress that would provide a new coverage formula based on current problems in voting and directly respond to the high court's concerns.

This is not perfect legislation, but it would go a long way towards restoring the protections that my constituents had before the Court's decision.

I urge my colleagues to bring the Voting Rights Amendment Act to a floor vote and ensure that our most sacred right--the right to vote--is protected for all Americans.

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