[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 94 (Thursday, June 27, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H4092]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           VOTING RIGHTS ACT

  (Mr. VEASEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call my colleagues to 
action.
  Monday, the Supreme Court handed down its decision regarding the 
Voting Rights Act, ruling that the current formula for determining 
covered jurisdictions is outdated. Nearly 2 hours after the SCOTUS 
ruling, one prominent Texas leader said that they will move immediately 
to reinstate the State's voter ID laws that were passed in 2011.
  Mr. Speaker, in 2011, the Justice Department objected to Texas' voter 
ID law because the State's own data indicated that the law would have a 
detrimental impact on minority voters, the poor and the elderly. Why in 
the world would a State as great as Texas want to implement a law that 
its own data said would hurt the very citizens in its own State?
  For this very reason, me and six other plaintiffs have filed suit in 
Federal court to bar enforcement of Texas' discriminatory voter ID law. 
The lawsuit in place is to ensure that we do not disenfranchise voters 
and to protect the constitutional rights of all Americans.
  I refuse to allow Texas or any other State to replicate laws that 
constrict our American values. I firmly stand here as proof that Texans 
and Americans need a voice. I call upon my colleagues to work together 
to ensure voter protections remain. The Supreme Court has overreached, 
and now it's time for us to act to protect the integrity of democracy.

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