[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 90 (Wednesday, July 12, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H5051-H5052]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        RENEW VOTING RIGHTS ACT

  (Ms. WATERS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with my colleagues to impart 
some history and context relative to the right to vote in America, an 
essential part of the democratic process. I

[[Page H5052]]

thank each of my colleagues for joining me to discuss this issue.
  Today, a series of Members will come to the floor to tell you the 
truth about the barriers, both past and present, that have prevented 
Americans from voting.
  The Voting Rights Act is one of the most important laws enacted by 
our government in the history of our democracy, because it allows the 
people to address past and present disenfranchisement as well as 
disparate conditions that will affect the ability to exercise voting 
rights in the future.
  Passage of H.R. 9 to reauthorize and renew the 1965 Voting Rights Act 
is critical to our democracy and our democratic form of government and 
the free exercise of the voting rights of all Americans.
  Mr. Speaker, the stories that you and America will hear today will 
underscore why the Voting Rights Act is so important and must be 
renewed. You will hear stories from Members of Congress who were voting 
age prior to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that recount some of the 
extreme difficulties and egregious legal impediments that constrained 
their right to vote, and you will hear other stories about real people 
denied the right to vote.

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