[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 169 (Tuesday, November 17, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H8248-H8249]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          RESTORATION TUESDAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Alabama (Ms. Sewell) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. SEWELL of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, today is Restoration Tuesday. I 
rise today to support voting rights for all Americans.
  I was proud to stand alongside Members who support the restoration of 
the Voting Rights Act of 1965 recently and to launch the 
#restorethevote legislative strategy. This national effort will help 
mobilize support for H.R. 2867, the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 
2015, a bill that I sponsored with Representatives Judy Chu and Linda 
Sanchez to restore critical Federal oversight to jurisdictions who have 
a recent history of voter suppression.
  Since elections are held on Tuesdays, every Tuesday that Congress is 
in session, like today, we will declare it to be Restoration Tuesday. 
So today I am speaking on the floor of the House of Representatives on 
the need to restore the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
  Our call for restoring the VRA is urgent, Mr. Speaker. As our 
colleague John Lewis so eloquently says, there is no other work more 
important in this or any Congress than protecting the full access of 
all Americans to the democratic process.
  If we do not act, the 2016 election will be the first Presidential 
election in 50 years without the protections offered to millions of 
voters by the Voting Rights Act of 1965. We must act now.
  I therefore urge all of my colleagues from both sides of the aisle, 
my Republican and my Democratic colleagues, to

[[Page H8249]]

join me on Tuesdays and speak in support of the Voting Rights Act and 
to sign onto the Voting Rights Restoration and Advancement Act of 2015, 
which restores key components of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
  Ultimately, this bill, H.R. 2657, will restore key components of the 
Voting Rights Act of 1965. The bill will provide more protection to 
more people in more States. It is about broadening, expanding, 
advancing the Voting Rights Act.
  Nothing is more American than voting. So every Tuesday Congress is in 
session we will be wearing the #restorethevote pin. The red, white, and 
blue pin is a symbol of our unwavering commitment to restoring the 
voices of the excluded, ending discriminatory practices, and providing 
transparency in the voting process.
  Fifty years ago, in 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting 
Rights Act into law. His voice and his words still resonate today. The 
vote, he said, is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for 
breaking down injustice.
  The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was pivotal in preventing voter 
discrimination and preventing it from occurring across the United 
States. The act gave millions of African Americans a voice, a voice 
that has been heard throughout our Nation for nearly 50 years.
  Now the Voting Rights Advancement Act will expand that not just to 
African American voters, but to all voters. That is exactly what we 
should be about. We should be about expanding voting rights 
opportunities so that all Americans are protected.
  As a daughter of Selma, Alabama, I am painfully aware that the 
injustices suffered on the Edmund Pettus Bridge 50 years ago have not 
been fully vindicated. As States across the country are passing laws to 
restrict access to the ballot box, we are ever mindful that old battles 
have indeed become new again.
  The recent decision by the State of Alabama, for example, to close 31 
DMV offices in majority Black counties in spite of Alabama's photo ID 
law is just one example of a modern-day barrier to voting.
  The Supreme Court issued Congress a challenge in the Shelby decision. 
It didn't say that pre-clearance was unconstitutional. Rather, it said: 
Congress, come up with a modern-day formula to address modern-day 
barriers to voting.
  Well, this example in Alabama of 31 DMV offices closing when indeed 
the State requires a photo ID and a driver's license is the most 
popular form of ID is one example.
  These counties that were discriminated against by this recent law in 
Alabama were the very counties where foot soldiers and activists like 
Jimmie Lee Jackson and Jonathan Daniels died for the opportunity and 
the right for others to vote. If Federal pre-clearance provisions were 
still in effect, these DMV closings would not have occurred.
  To restrict the ability of any American to vote is an assault on all 
Americans' equal participation in our electoral process. No one 
benefits when American voices are silenced at the polls.
  Mr. Speaker, I applaud certain States like the States of California 
and Oregon, two States that are now automatically registering citizens 
who request a driver's license to actually vote.
  So, Mr. Speaker, on this Restoration Tuesday, I am asking all of my 
colleagues to join me in support of H.R. 2867, the Voting Rights 
Advancement Act, and I am asking all Americans to join us in our 
efforts for #restorethevote and #restorationtuesday.

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