[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 86 (Wednesday, June 28, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6591-S6592]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   VOTING RIGHTS ACT REAUTHORIZATION

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, as you know, outside these doors to my left 
is a beautiful room called the President's Room, or the Red Room. We 
call it the President's Room because for many decades, this was the 
place where Presidents came to sign legislation. During the past 
century, the 20th century, it wasn't used often at all. Rarely was it 
used for Presidents to come and sign legislation. But on August 6, 
1965, it was used. The last time the Red Room, or the President's Room, 
was used for signing a bill into law was on a hot summer day of 1965. 
It had been a very hot summer. The purpose of President Lyndon Johnson 
coming to the Capitol to sign the bill here, rather than in the White 
House, was because it was the Voting Rights Act. The reason I say it 
was a very hot summer, it had been a hot couple of years.
  I would direct everyone's attention to a wonderful book written by 
Taylor Branch, a relatively new book, published recently, called ``At 
Canaan's Edge.'' This book tells the story of a number of things, but 
one is how the Voting Rights Act became law. People

[[Page S6592]]

sacrificed their lives to allow this movement to go forward and, 
ultimately, to have this legislation passed.
  So if we look back historically, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is one 
of the most magnificent pieces of legislation ever passed by Congress 
because what it did is jump forward 100 years following the Civil War 
and give African Americans the ability to register to vote. Counties 
and various States in the South that were basically all African 
American had no African-American voters. The Voting Rights Act changed 
that. And now African Americans all over this country, but especially 
in the South, have had their lives changed by not having to feel the 
crash of a baseball bat on their head like Reverend Reeb, who came to 
peacefully demonstrate to allow people to have the right to vote and 
was killed with the smash of a baseball bat on the side of his head. 
Lives were lost, I repeat, and many people were injured. Many were 
seriously injured in an attempt to exercise the basic right of voting 
in America.
  Why do I bring this to the Senate's attention today? The reason I 
bring it to the Senate's attention today is, it was a short time ago, 
early May, and it was very hot in Washington, and we went to the east 
front on the House side to have a press conference. There were dozens 
of Members of Congress there. Cameras were there, and people were 
shoving for position so the camera could see them. Everybody was there 
to talk about the need to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act. The press 
event took a long time. We had a number of speakers there, and they all 
talked about how important it was that we reauthorize the Voting Rights 
Act. I was there, Senator Frist was there, House leaders were there, 
chairman and ranking members of the Judiciary Committees were there, 
civil rights leaders were there to announce their support for the 
reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act. We stood together that day on 
the steps of the Capitol and announced a bipartisan, bicameral 
introduction of that bill.
  I thought that day held great promise for the Congress and the 
Nation. The old days of the early 1960s were put behind us, and this 
would just go through here very quickly. I thought the legislation 
would be reauthorized and we would move down the road. I thought it 
showed great possibilities that leaders of both parties recognized that 
protecting the right to vote is not a partisan issue, it is an American 
issue and one we would join to support without qualification.
  While finding common ground seems increasingly beyond our reach on 
many debates in the Senate, our joint support for the Voting Rights Act 
stood as a sign that we could still readily stand together to protect 
the rights upon which this Nation was founded.
  In the weeks that followed, some progress was made in moving the bill 
forward in the House and the Senate. In both Chambers, an exhaustive 
record was built, demonstrating without question the continued need for 
the Voting Rights Act protections.
  I am sorry to report that progress has stalled. It has really 
stalled. Last week, House leaders failed to follow through on their 
commitment to move this reauthorization in that body. It is now not 
clear when or even if the House will act. We urge them to do so 
quickly. But the fact that the House hasn't acted doesn't mean we 
cannot act in the Senate. The commitment we all made in May on the east 
front of the Capitol is a commitment that the American people are going 
to hold us to. As I have said, we need not wait for the House. I am 
told the Senate Judiciary Committee is going to complete a markup of 
this important legislation in July. I hope so. As we know, the original 
timetable was May.
  Mr. President, I stand ready to work with my friend, the 
distinguished majority leader, to move this matter forward in the 
Senate, and let the House do what they feel they need to do. We need to 
have the Judiciary Committee complete its work, bring this to the 
Senate floor in July, and spend time on it, talking about how important 
this legislation has been and how that President's Room back there 
could be used by President Bush to come and sign the reauthorization of 
this bill. Hopefully he can do it this summer.
  I don't stand alone in the pursuit of passing the reauthorization of 
the Voting Rights Act. More than 40 Democratic and Republican Senators 
have signed as cosponsors of this legislation. I really believe that 
together we can fulfill the commitment we made in May to support the 
voting rights of all Americans, without equivocation, by calling this 
bill up in July and moving forward with its swift passage.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. CLINTON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDING pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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