[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 90 (Wednesday, July 12, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H5053]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   VOTING RIGHTS ACT REAUTHORIZATION

  (Ms. LEE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, it is really with a deep sense of gratitude to 
Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King and our great warrior, 
Congressman John Lewis, that I rise in support of the renewal of the 
Voting Rights Act.
  There is no way that I would be standing on this floor today as a 
Member of Congress had it not been for the bloodshed and the sacrifices 
and oftentimes the deaths of so many fighting for all Americans for 
their right to vote.
  And I vividly remember the days of Jim Crow and segregation and the 
insidious poll tax growing up in Texas. The humiliation and the 
discrimination and the degradation of African Americans will always be 
a scar on America's history.
  The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed just 1 year after I 
graduated from high school. And unfortunately, we still need to renew 
these expiring provisions, and we shouldn't weaken any of the 
protections in this legislation.
  We still witness voter intimidation and voter suppression in our 
country. But I am reminded of the tremendous progress and the march to 
freedom and equality, but also of the unfinished business of America 
during the very powerful civil rights pilgrimages that some of us go on 
to Selma and to Birmingham and to Montgomery, Alabama. In memory of all 
of those who paid the supreme price for our democracy, let us pass this 
bill today and let's pass it on a bipartisan basis.

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