[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 187 (Monday, October 25, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H5857-H5860]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
VOTING RIGHTS UNDER ATTACK
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Newman). Under the Speaker's announced
policy of January 4, 2021, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Torres) is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
General Leave
Mr. TORRES of New York. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that
all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks
and include any extraneous material on the subject of this Special
Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from New York?
There was no objection.
Mr. TORRES of New York. Madam Speaker, where did we get this notion
that the filibuster is more worth preserving than the right to vote?
That is surely not the lesson of American history. That is surely not
what we teach our students in the classroom or our children at home.
Yet, that is the lie that dictates what happens here in the Nation's
Capitol, a lie that comes at a heavy cost to American democracy.
It seems that there is nothing sacred in American politics--not the
truth, not the peaceful transfer of power, not the full faith and
credit of the United States, and, indeed, not even the right to vote.
The enforcement mechanisms of the Voting Rights Act have been all but
eviscerated.
First, there is section 5, otherwise known as preclearance, which
enables the executive branch, the Civil Rights Division of the
Department of Justice, to enforce the Voting Rights Act. Then there is
section 2, which enables the judicial branch, the courts, to enforce
the Voting Rights Act. Both of these provisions have been gutted at the
hands of rightwing judicial activism.
The end of the Voting Rights Act as we know it has been a political
windfall for the Republican Party, which is intent on holding power by
any means necessary, even if it means disenfranchising Black and Brown
voters.
We are here to tell you that the Congressional Black Caucus will not
stand by idly while the voting rights of Black Americans come under
systematic assault. We will fight back because fighting is what we do
in the Congressional Black Caucus and because there were many before us
who were bloodied and bludgeoned and beaten so that we can have the
right to vote. The least we can do is fight back.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Beatty),
our dynamic leader, our dynamic chair.
Mrs. BEATTY. Madam Speaker, I thank Congressman Torres for yielding.
Madam Speaker, it is indeed my honor to stand in this Chamber tonight
to speak up, to speak out about voting rights, voter suppression,
fighting back, disenfranchised, section 4, section 5, section 2, all of
which you will hear about tonight.
We are here as members of the Congressional Black Caucus because we
want to make sure that all of our colleagues hear our story, a story
that they, too, should know so well, the story of a lady by the name of
Fannie Lou Hamer, a civil rights activist from Mississippi who didn't
even know that she could have had the right to vote.
Recently, her granddaughter told that story. As I read that and
thought about how she dedicated her life to voting rights, fast-
forward, think about our beloved friend, colleague, mentor, the late
Congressman John Lewis, who stood on this floor at this microphone and
told us his story, told us about that day when he was crossing the
Edmund Pettus Bridge, what it felt like--dogs, hose, police officers,
knocked down, and could have died.
But the story ends with a good message because he would have done it
all over again. He told us, if you see something, say something. He
reminded us that it is our role to get in good trouble.
So tonight, we want our colleagues, especially those on the other
side of the aisle, to know that this is one of our top priorities. We
want them to know that four times Republican Presidents reauthorized
the Voting Rights Act. We want our colleagues in the Senate to know
this should not be something that we are fighting over. This is
something that we should be honoring and celebrating.
As we gather here in this sacred Chamber, on the floor of the
people's House, to discuss voting rights in America, to amplify Our
Power, Our Message, we boldly announce that we are not going to let the
clock be turned back.
Let me end by saying on behalf of the members of the Congressional
Black Caucus that this is something that we are asking all of our
colleagues to join in and help us make sure that we can proudly say
that we are reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act.
Madam Speaker, I close by saying the CBC will do everything in our
power to defend the right to vote. We are prepared to work overtime. We
are prepared to go what I like to call old school: stand up and make
some noise, march, protest, and, yes, even get arrested.
{time} 1945
I remember that day clearly, fighting, marching, protesting. I
thought of Fannie Lou Hamer. I thought of John Lewis and so many other
soldiers, pioneers. I stand on their shoulders.
Tonight, I ask us, let's stand together.
Madam Speaker, it gives me great pleasure, as chair of the
Congressional Black Caucus to recognize the gentlewoman from Alabama
(Ms. Sewell), my colleague and my friend.
I like to call her the current day mother of voting rights, fighting,
and telling her story, leading us with John Lewis every year since I
have been in Congress, and before, across that Edmund Pettus Bridge.
Listening to her so scholarly debate the lawsuits that we have been
confronted with, Shelby v. Holder.
Listening to her explain preclearance and why we must fight and why
we must have hearings. Why we must get it right because there is so
much at stake.
Mr. TORRES of New York. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman
from Alabama (Ms. Sewell).
Ms. SEWELL. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the illustrious chairwoman
of the Congressional Black Caucus, Joyce Beatty, for her leadership. I
want to thank Richie Torres for leading us in this Special Order hour.
Nothing could be more profound in this hour than to be talking about
voting rights.
As we speak, our Nation is facing the most concerted effort to
restrict the right to vote in a generation. Just this year, 400 bills
have been introduced in State legislatures across this Nation to
restrict the right to vote. In 19 States, at least 33 of these bills
have become law, including the most egregious of State legislatures,
Georgia, where now it is a crime to give a bottle of water to a voter
as they stand in line.
Even as our democracy comes under attack, we see Republicans standing
firm in their opposition to protecting the right to vote, a bedrock
principle that should never be partisan.
Just last week, we watched as every Senate Republican voted to block
debate on the Freedom to Vote Act, a commonsense bill that would ensure
that every American has access to the ballot box.
What are they afraid of, I ask? What are they afraid of?
Last week's vote made clear that Senate Republicans are unwilling to
even debate voting rights, let alone hold a fair vote. This just
further demonstrates that in order to protect our democracy and the
sacred right to vote; we must reform the filibuster to create a path
forward for must-pass pieces of legislation.
Madam Speaker, almost 3 weeks ago we saw Senator Leahy introduce S.
4, the John Robert Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act in the Senate.
But unless we take action on the filibuster, and take action now, this
critical bill
[[Page H5858]]
will face the same fate as the Freedom to Vote Act.
The way I see it, every Senator is now faced with a choice: it is
voting rights or the filibuster; it is protecting our sacred right to
vote and our democracy or the filibuster; it is advancing the legacy of
John Lewis and the foot soldiers or it is a filibuster.
Now, I know which side I am on. I hope our Senators will choose to do
what is right and do away with an archaic procedural rule that has been
used for decades to block racial justice in this country.
President Biden also understands the urgency of this critical moment.
On Thursday, at his town hall meeting, we heard President Biden express
support for reforming the filibuster to pass must-needed voting rights
legislation. I am glad that President Biden understands the urgency of
this moment and the dire need for Federal oversight.
You know, it was Federal oversight that brought us the Civil Rights
Act of 1965. It was Federal oversight that allowed those marchers to
march across that Edmund Pettus Bridge in my hometown of Selma,
Alabama. You know when State legislatures go amuck, it is Federal
oversight that we need to ensure that every American has access to the
ballot box.
Madam Speaker, it was foot soldiers like our late, great colleague
and my mentor, John Lewis, who shed blood on a bridge in Selma for the
equal right of all Americans to vote. If protecting that sacred right
is not worth overcoming a procedural rule, then what is?
Madam Speaker, it takes only 51 votes to sit a Supreme Court Justice
and for a Supreme Court Justice to have life tenure on the Supreme
Court. 51 votes. Yet, it takes 60 votes to stop debate and to allow a
fair vote in the United States Senate on voting rights. This is
unacceptable. It is un-American. It is unjust.
We, in the Congressional Black Caucus, are saying: This is our
message. This is our fight. Voting rights. We have no other choice, we
must reform the filibuster and we must do so now.
When I think about the shoulders on which we all stand, I am reminded
of being in this House in 2015 during the State of the Union. I had as
my special guest none other than Amelia Boynton Robinson, who at that
time was 103 years old. She was the oldest living foot soldier that
marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge with John Lewis and so many
others.
In 2015, the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery march, she
was my special guest. As we waited in a small room off of this Chamber
for Barack Obama, then-President of these United States, to deliver
that State of the Union, everyone wanted to take a picture with Ms.
Amelia Boynton Robinson.
They kneeled by her wheelchair, and said: Ms. Amelia, we stand on
your shoulders. Oh, Ms. Amelia, we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for
your sacrifice.
Well, Ms. Amelia was a little tired of people saying that to her over
and over again. And when Eric Holder, the then-Attorney General of the
United States, came and kneeled beside her, and said: Oh, Ms. Amelia, I
stand on your shoulders. She said: Get off my shoulders, all of you, do
your own work--is what she said.
Madam Speaker, I am here to say that we, the members of the
Congressional Black Caucus, are doing our own work. We are standing
firm, we are standing solid, we are standing united in our effort to
bring back the full protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
We must do our own work, all of us. It is not enough to say that we
stand on the shoulders of giants. We know these giants, our foremothers
and our forefathers, they were tacticians, they were strategists. They
just didn't happen upon Selma, Alabama. They just didn't happen upon
Birmingham and Memphis and Atlanta. They went looking for good trouble,
and good trouble they got in. We must do the same. We must take a play
from their playbook.
We must stand firm. We must stand united. We must stand undeterred in
our efforts to beat down any barrier that stands in the way of
protecting that sacred right to vote. It was John Lewis who said that
the vote is the most sacred, the most fundamental right, nonviolent
tool in our democracy. That is the vote. The vote is fundamental to
this democracy, and everything else we do--well, everything else we do
will be tainted if every American lacks the right to vote. There is
nothing more sacred, more fundamental to this democracy, than the right
to vote.
How can a procedural rule stand in the way of that right?
Now, I can tell you that my constituents back home don't understand
the filibuster. They don't understand this archaic procedural rule that
is in the Senate. When I tell them that that stands in the way of us
passing the John Robert Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, they say:
Why? Didn't we go to the polls in record numbers in States all across
this Nation, in southern States like Georgia to deliver the democratic
majority? And they ask of us to protect that democracy now.
John Lewis said that our fight is not a fight for 1 day, it is not a
fight for 1 year, ours is a fight of a lifetime to secure that sacred
right to vote. When I close my eyes, I can hear him. Can't you hear
him? John Lewis said it firmly, he said it often: When you see
something that is not right, that is not fair, that is not just, we
have a moral obligation to stand up and do something about it.
We in the Congressional Black Caucus know that our message, our
fight, our cause, is nothing if not to defend the sacred right to vote.
It is a right that is fundamental to our democracy and that no elected
official should seek to undermine, to restrict any voice in this
democracy.
Our vote is our voice in this representative democracy. When you
squelch the voice of one American who has that sacred right and is
unable to exercise it because the lines are too long, because their
names have been purged from a roll, it is a fundamental threat to all
of us, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
We know that. We live that. Martin Luther King told us that, but we
live it every day. Nothing is more fundamental to our rights than our
democracy and its foundation, its bedrock, the right to vote.
When Barack Obama came into that small room off of this Chamber,
Amelia Boynton Robinson cradled his face. I think all of us understood
the import of that moment. Here was the first African-American
President of these United States, and here was a woman, at 103 years
old, who made the ultimate sacrifice, bludgeoned on a bridge, shedding
blood on a bridge in my hometown of Selma, Alabama, so that all of us
would have the right to vote and that one day she would see the fruits
of her labor. Oh, what faith our foremothers and our forefathers must
have had. Faith. Faith that their sacrifices were not in vain.
And President Obama said: Oh, Ms. Amelia, to say thank you doesn't
seem adequate. I get to give a speech as the President of these United
States, and it is because of you. Without missing a beat, this woman,
103 years old, frail, said: Oh, make it a good one. That better be a
very good speech.
{time} 2000
We should make every day a good one; we who are the inheritors of
this legacy, and we who are the beneficiaries of this movement. Every
day should be a good one. We should not lay our head on a pillow if we
have not advanced the legacy of these foremothers and forefathers.
Every day should be a good one.
So we call on the Senate to do what we know is right, to do what John
calls good trouble. Get into some good trouble. Let's change those
rules. We have it within our power to do so. After all, we control the
Senate, we control the House, and we have the White House--gavels given
to us by ordinary people who believed that we will take that power and
exercise that power on their behalf.
Nothing is more fundamental than the right to vote. So in the name of
John Lewis, in the name of Amelia Boynton, and in the name of all of
those known and unknown foot soldiers who have the audacity to make
this Nation live up to its ideals of freedom, justice, and equality,
are those empty words?
We must breathe life into those constitutional principles, and we can
do so if we have the will to do what we know is right.
A filibuster or voting rights?
Upholding the legacy of our foremothers and forefathers or a
filibuster?
[[Page H5859]]
Making sure that we do all that we can to protect this democracy or a
filibuster?
The choices are easy from where I sit. They are easy from where our
constituents sit.
I ask our Senators to do what they know is right. If ever there is a
reason to reform the filibuster, it is for that constitutionally
protected right to vote. We must do so, and we must do so now and pass
S. 4, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
Let us restore the full protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Let us pass the Freedom to Vote Act. After all, the first 300 pages
were written by John Lewis. His Voter Empowerment Act is about access
to the ballot box. It is about making sure that the least of these--the
voiceless--have a voice in this democracy. We must restore the vote and
the voices of the excluded.
We can do that. Congress can do that. That was what the Supreme Court
said in the Shelby v. Holder decision: Only Congress can come up with a
modern-day formula to secure the right to vote and to get at the most
egregious State actors. We understand that we are threading a thin
needle, but we have done our job and now the Senate must do its. Let's
get rid of the filibuster. Let's reform the filibuster at the very
least and ensure that every American has a right to vote and to ensure
that their vote is counted.
Mr. TORRES of New York. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from
Pennsylvania (Mr. Evans).
Mr. EVANS. Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the chairwoman for
her leadership of the Black Caucus for this opportunity, and I would
like to thank my colleague from the great State of New York for his
leadership and what he has done.
After listening to the mother, as the chairwoman said, I don't think
it could have been expressed better. She did a fanatic job.
Madam Speaker, in my home State of Pennsylvania, Republican
majorities in the legislature are trying to stay in power by
restricting people's right to vote. For 7 years, Governor Wolf's veto
has protected voting rights, so they are trying to amend the State
constitution to bypass him.
We are seeing these types of voting suppression plans moving forward
in several States as well as plans to override the votes after the
votes have been cast.
To those who want to suppress votes or throw out vote counts, why are
you so afraid of the voters?
Let me repeat that: Why are you afraid of the voters?
Fortunately, Congress can still act. The House has acted twice. We
have passed the For the People Act almost 8 months ago on March 3, and
we have passed the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act in
August. Now the eyes of the Nation are on the Senate.
Will the Senators let the filibuster gut the sacred right to vote?
Personally, I would support an end to the filibuster but, I don't get
to vote on Senate rules.
According to the Brookings Institute analysis, there are 161
exceptions to the filibuster already. Let me repeat that: 161
exceptions to the filibuster. Everything from executive branch and
judicial appointments to budget reconciliation, to fast-track trade
agreements, to military base closures and arms sales, but not for
voting rights. There are 161 exceptions. Madam Speaker, you heard me
just describe to you those exceptions.
At a bare minimum, Senators who support voting rights need to create
exception number 162 to the filibuster--a voting rights exception. The
right to vote is the foundation of our democracy. The right to vote is
the foundation of our democracy.
Make that exception to the filibuster. Save our democracy.
It is important to understand just at this moment, this is a moment
in history. This is a moment. I had the pleasure of serving with the
late John Lewis on the Ways and Means Committee. And I watched him when
I was growing up as he walked across the bridge. I was 10 years old. He
demonstrated to all of us in this country what it means to be the
conscience; very similar to Congresswoman Joyce Beatty leading the
Congressional Black Caucus. The Congressional Black Caucus is the
conscience of this Congress, and we stand here today to add our voices
to make sure that people understand that we are in this fight, we were
determined in every way that you can think of, Madam Speaker, to fight
for that exception on the filibuster. We want to be clear and concise
and let people know that we are not accepting this. This is something
that is unacceptable. We must have the right to vote.
Mr. TORRES of New York. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman
from Georgia (Mrs. McBath).
Mrs. McBATH. Madam Speaker, first, I would like to thank
Congresswoman and Chairwoman Joyce Beatty of the Congressional Black
Caucus for her astounding leadership and really being on the front
lines for the Congressional Black Caucus, and I want to thank our
colleague, Ritchie Torres, for his leadership tonight on the floor for
our Special Order hour for voting rights.
I really want to thank each and every one of my colleagues, whether
they be members of the Congressional Black Caucus or just colleagues
here in this body who have stood and fought for everyone's right to
exercise their right to vote, to exercise what is important to them in
this country to be fully and freely an American. I want to thank each
and every one of them because it is for that reason--those reasons--
that we are here tonight.
Madam Speaker, I rise today, like so many have done before me
throughout the years, to stand for the right of every American citizen
in this country to vote.
During the civil rights movement, I was the child in the stroller at
the March on Washington. I know many have heard me say before that my
father was president of the NAACP chapter in Illinois, and I can still
picture him to this day presiding over meetings at our kitchen table in
our home. Our house was always filled with volunteers, civil rights
leaders, and workers as they were working on their poster boards,
preparations, and getting ready for rallies and for marches as they
were preparing to fight for a brighter world.
From the time that I could walk as a young child, I was always
marching with my family. I have joked with my colleagues over and over
again that the very first song I think I really truly learned how to
sing was ``We Shall Overcome'' because that is what we were singing.
That is what I remember in my mind. I knew the words to that song
because I knew that they had depth, and I knew they were so important
to my family. Even though I was so young and I didn't understand what
we were fighting for, I knew what my parents were doing was vitally
important to this Nation.
I was raised by my parents to always fight for others, to fight for
what is right, to stand up, to champion, to fight for the least of
these, and to stand up so that every American's voice is heard and that
their voice is counted.
I remember all the nights that my mother would put my sister and me
in the car and we would travel all around Illinois passing out The
Voice newspaper which at that time was the Illinois civil rights
newspaper. I remember getting stuck in the mud at night and being out
in parts of Illinois where we didn't know where we were, but my mother
put us in the car and did what she believed she had to do to make sure
that the American people and people of color understood the fight that
was going on on their behalf whether they were taking part in it or
not, but that they understood and that they knew how important it was
for them to be able to exercise what was important to them as human
beings and as citizens in the United States of America.
The struggle for voting rights was championed not only by my parents
but was embodied by our great friend and colleague, Representative John
Lewis. He inspired millions of Americans, and that is still carried on
today. That is still so vitally necessary today. I live in Georgia, and
Georgia has had a profound and rich history of all the American civil
rights stalwarts who fought on the front lines for the very voting
rights that we still talk about to this day and that we are still
having to protect and champion to this day: Representative John Lewis,
Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King, Joseph Lowery, C.T.
Vivian, Ralph David Abernathy, and, of course, Andrew Young.
These are the individuals who were on the front lines fighting for
us--
[[Page H5860]]
Members of Congress African Americans--to be in this Chamber, to be in
this House, to be in this body, and to represent the values and the
dreams of not only people of our ilk but of the American people.
{time} 2015
Had it not been for those individuals, as Representative Terri Sewell
has mentioned, the foremothers, the forefathers, we would not be here
today.
Free and fair elections are the bedrock of American democracy. That
is what this democracy was founded upon.
As John Lewis used to say: ``Freedom is not a state; it is an act. .
. . Freedom is the continuous action we all must take, and each
generation must do its part to create an even more fair, more just
society.'' Together, each and every one of us must do our part.
When I think about the fact that my father worked so hard in the
civil rights movement, that my father was there in the White House with
President Lyndon Baines Johnson for the signing of the Civil Rights Act
of 1964, and when I think about the fact that I am here as a Member of
Congress because of the work that my forefathers and foreparents and
civil rights workers and leaders and volunteers and people who just
believed, just believed in what the Constitution said and meant,
believed in that by exercising the right to vote, the fact that now we
are still fighting for those same rights and that people live in
jeopardy of having those rights taken away is unconscionable.
For every American who fought or bled or died, gave their life for
people to have the right to vote, what is happening in this body, what
is happening in the Senate, is unconscionable.
We are better than this. America is better than this. We have been
that beacon for the world for the sense of democracy, and we must
continue to be that very thing.
Across America, we are standing up.
Across America, we will lead the fight for free and fair elections.
Across America, we will lead the fight to ensure that every American
has the right to make their voice heard.
Across America, we will lead the fight to create a more just society.
We must. The times demand it.
Every one of us in this body was born for a time such as this, and
God demands that of us at this time.
Mr. TORRES of New York. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman
from Illinois (Ms. Underwood).
Ms. UNDERWOOD. Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding.
I rise today to urge the Senate to defend the American people from
the ongoing assault on their sacred right to vote.
People of color are disproportionately impacted by the recent
onslaught of attacks on this fundamental right by certain State
legislatures and partisan litigators. This is only the latest salvo
from a decades-long war on voting rights, a war that has always been
and still is fueled by racism. But although people of color are the
primary targets of these attacks, we are not the only casualties.
The right to vote is the foundation of any democracy. Without it, the
United States would cease to be a government of, by, and for the
people. Those are the stakes. This is a life-and-death issue for our
country itself.
Earlier this year, I proudly voted with most though, unfortunately,
not all of my colleagues to designate Juneteenth National Independence
Day as a Federal holiday. With this vote, we recognized that America
cannot truly be a free country until every American is free.
Freedom cannot be conditional on who you are, where you live, what
you look like, how many hours you work, what language you speak, or
what bus you ride. That is why every attack on voting rights cracks the
foundation of our democracy. If we allow it to keep crumbling away chip
by chip, soon, the whole structure will collapse.
Last week, Senate Democrats brought an urgently needed voting rights
bill to the floor, where every single Republican voted to defeat it. Of
course, this defeat was made possible by the filibuster, an
undemocratic procedural weapon that has been wielded for a century and
a half to block anti-lynching legislation, civil rights, and voting
rights.
Americans are tired of seeing their rights sacrificed on the altar of
the filibuster. Every Senator faces a choice about what is more
important to protect, an antiquated procedural rule or our
representative democracy.
I urge my colleagues in the Senate to prioritize our democracy and
ensure access to the ballot box is not undermined by restrictive State
laws. A democracy for some is not a democracy for all.
Mr. TORRES of New York. Madam Speaker, how much time do I have left?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has 16 minutes remaining.
Mr. TORRES of New York. I will use far fewer than 16 minutes.
Madam Speaker, the lesson of history is State and local governments
cannot be trusted to respect voting rights in the absence of Federal
oversight. Federal voting rights enforcement is essential, as essential
as the right to vote itself. And the most powerful tool for voting
rights enforcement is preclearance. Preclearance has been so effective
that, from 1965 to 2006, it kept 1,200 State and local voting
restrictions from taking effect.
The John Lewis Voting Rights Act would restore preclearance as the
gold standard of voting rights enforcement, not only for some States
but for all.
The John Lewis Voting Rights Act makes real the creed of America,
liberty and justice for all.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
____________________