[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 90 (Wednesday, July 12, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H5054]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   VOTING RIGHTS ACT REAUTHORIZATION

  (Mr. BISHOP of Georgia asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BISHOP of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of 
the Voting Rights Act and the legislation before us this week which 
extends the Voting Rights Act for 25 years. It has been reauthorized 
and upheld for more than four decades. But several key provisions are 
set to expire next year if not reauthorized by Congress.
  The Voting Rights Act is one of the most important civil rights 
initiatives ever enacted, protecting minority voters from 
discrimination and ensuring for all Americans the right to vote in a 
fair and equal voting process. We must protect this right. It is 
sacred. It stops practices such as those that allowed every African 
American to be expelled from the Georgia legislature between 1866 and 
1900. It stops poll taxes, racial gerrymanders that dilute minority 
voting power. It stops moving polling places without notice. It stops 
hanging chads. It is the reason, after 100 years, that I was finally 
able to follow Jefferson Long as the first African American to 
represent my area of Georgia in Congress. It has empowered descendants 
of slaves like me to participate fully in America's political process. 
We should not, we must not, we cannot go back. We must renew the Voting 
Rights Act today.

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