[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 140 (Thursday, August 6, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5286-S5287]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE RESOLUTION 671--RECOGNIZING, COMMEMORATING, AND CELEBRATING THE 
55TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ENACTMENT OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965, AND 
REAFFIRMING THE SENATE'S COMMITMENT TO ENSURING THE CONTINUED VITALITY 
 OF THE ACT AND THE PROTECTION OF THE VOTING RIGHTS OF ALL CITIZENS OF 
                           THE UNITED STATES

  Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. Bennet, Ms. Hirono, Mr. Wyden, Mr. 
Carper, Mr. Jones, Ms. Baldwin, Ms. Cortez Masto, Mr. Blumenthal, Ms. 
Stabenow, Mr. Menendez, Ms. Rosen, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Kaine, Mr. 
Casey, Mr. Van Hollen, Ms. Smith, Mr. Warner, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Durbin, 
Ms. Klobuchar, Ms. Harris, Mr. Booker, Mrs. Shaheen, and Mr. Brown) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on the Judiciary:

                              S. Res. 671

       Whereas the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 marked 
     a historic point in the ongoing struggle to achieve political 
     equality, end racial discrimination, and enforce the voting 
     rights guarantees enshrined in the 14th and 15th Amendments 
     to the Constitution of the United States;
       Whereas March 7, 1965, would become known as ``Bloody 
     Sunday'', after nonviolent civil rights activists--including 
     the late Representative John Lewis--marching across the 
     Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama to the State capital 
     in Montgomery in support of voting rights were attacked and 
     savagely beaten by State troopers and local lawmen;
       Whereas, on March 15, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson 
     addressed a joint session of Congress concerning the violence 
     in Selma and the denial of voting rights, saying, ``At times, 
     history and fate meet at a single time in a single place to 
     shape a turning point in man's unending search for freedom. 
     So it was at Lexington and Concord. So it was a century ago 
     at Appomattox. So it was last week in Selma, Alabama. . . . 
     There is no cause for pride in what has happened in Selma. 
     There is no cause for self-satisfaction in the long denial of 
     equal rights of millions of Americans. But there is cause for 
     hope and for faith in our democracy in what is happening here 
     tonight. . . . Experience has clearly shown that the existing 
     process of law cannot overcome systematic and ingenious 
     discrimination. No law that we now have on the books--and I 
     have helped to put 3 of them there--can ensure the right to 
     vote when local officials are determined to deny it. . . . 
     Wednesday, I will send to Congress a law designed to 
     eliminate illegal barriers to the right to vote. . . . This 
     bill will strike down restrictions to voting in all 
     elections--Federal, State, and local--which have been used to 
     deny [Blacks] the right to vote.'';
       Whereas a bipartisan Congress approved the Voting Rights 
     Act of 1965, and on August 6, 1965, President Lyndon B. 
     Johnson signed this landmark legislation into law;
       Whereas the Voting Rights Act of 1965 effectuates the 
     permanent guarantee of the 15th Amendment that ``the right of 
     citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or 
     abridged by the United States or by any State on account of 
     race, color, or previous condition of servitude'';
       Whereas, according to the Congressional Research Service, 
     the Voting Rights Act had ``an immediate and dramatic 
     impact'', and within 4 years of its passage, nearly 1,000,000 
     Black voters were registered, including over 50 percent of 
     the Black voting age population in every southern State;
       Whereas, after the 1966 elections, the number of Black 
     elected officials in the South more than doubled, from 72 to 
     159;
       Whereas the Voting Rights Act of 1965 stands as a landmark 
     legislative achievement and pays tribute to the heroism of 
     all those who fought to fulfill the promises guaranteed to 
     them by the 14th and 15th Amendments, especially those whose 
     blood was spilled and whose lives were lost;
       Whereas the Voting Rights Act of 1965 has been extended and 
     amended 5 times;
       Whereas, despite progress from 55 years of enforcement of 
     the Voting Rights Act of 1965, voting rights are still under 
     attack in the United States;
       Whereas, in its decision in Shelby County v. Holder, 570 
     U.S. 529 (2013), the Supreme Court of the United States 
     struck down section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which 
     required covered States and jurisdictions with a history of 
     discriminatory voting practices to submit voting changes for 
     ``preclearance'' before they could take effect;
       Whereas, since the decision in Shelby County, many States 
     have passed discriminatory voting laws that have made it more 
     difficult for people of color and low income individuals to 
     vote;
       Whereas it is vital to democracy in the United States that 
     the provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 are fully 
     effective to prevent discrimination and dilution of the equal 
     rights of minority voters; and
       Whereas the Voting Rights Act of 1965 has been widely 
     hailed as the single most important civil rights law passed 
     in the history of the United States: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) recognizes, commemorates, and celebrates the 55th 
     anniversary of the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 
     1965;
       (2) reaffirms its commitment to advancing the legacy of the 
     Voting Rights Act of 1965 to

[[Page S5287]]

     ensure the continued effectiveness of the Act in protecting 
     the voting rights of all citizens of the United States;
       (3) commits itself to fully restoring section 4 of the 
     Voting Rights Act of 1965 and modernizing and strengthening 
     the Voting Rights Act of 1965 through further legislative 
     efforts; and
       (4) encourages the people of the United States to celebrate 
     the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

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