[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 81 (Wednesday, June 21, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H4374-H4375]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           VOTING RIGHTS ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, thank you so much for granting me this 
time.
  As chair of the House Democratic Caucus, Mr. Speaker, I would like to 
offer my congratulations to Chairman Sensenbrenner, Ranking Member 
Conyers, the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Mr. Watt, and the 
chair of the Hispanic Caucus Mrs. Napolitano, for the great work and 
the significant sacrifices they gave in helping us to fashion a Voting 
Rights Act renewal that we thought was acceptable for the vast majority 
of the Members of this body.
  We are extremely disappointed, however, that the leadership of the 
House has decided to pull the Voting Rights Act which we had hoped to 
be considering this afternoon.
  It is my understanding, Mr. Speaker, that the Judiciary Committee had 
12 or 13 hearings, and everybody in this body had an opportunity to 
come before that committee to let their views be known. Everybody in 
the voting public had ample opportunity to present their views and 
their emotions to the committee.

[[Page H4375]]

  After all of this, we thought we had an agreement that this 
legislation would come before this body on suspension. We can 
understand why it was necessary for the Rules Committee to allow two 
amendments to be offered. We understand politics, and we do not have a 
problem with that. We do, however, have a problem with raising 
expectations among the people of this great State and having those 
expectations dashed as they were today.
  We are hopeful that the leadership will bring this legislation before 
this body before we go out for the July 4 break. I do not believe there 
is any better way to celebrate this Nation's birthday, which we do on 
July 4, than by saying to the American people that the Voting Rights 
Act, which was created to get rid of creative devices that work to 
nullify and dilute the impact of minority voting in our great State.
  I am proud to represent the State of South Carolina in this body. I 
used to teach history to students in that State. I used to tell my 
students all the time that one of the reasons that we study history is 
so that we can understand the past so that we will know pretty much how 
to prepare for the future. And one of the things I used to tell them, 
Mr. Speaker, is that if a thing has happened before, it can happen 
again. And I am afraid that the creative devices that were developed in 
the 1890s and early 1900s in this country under what we call the Black 
Codes, things like numbered posts, things like at-large voting, things 
like what we call full-slate voting, would be allowed back into our 
electoral process if we politicize section 5 that grants review. And if 
we were to turn that section over to a political appointee to make 
determinations as to whether or not they allow to be required other 
forms of exceptions, that is exactly what we will do with that law.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I come today to thank the bipartisan group of 
legislators on the Judiciary Committee for fashioning an acceptable 
compromise to bring to this body. And I also ask the leadership of the 
Republican Party to please bring this legislation to this body next 
week and give us an opportunity to say to the American people that we 
will celebrate our birthday on July 4 with an understanding that 
everybody, irrespective of status, will have their votes counted and 
counted effectively.

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