[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 12 (Wednesday, January 19, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H221-H222]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                ABOLISH FILIBUSTER OR LET DEMOCRACY DIE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Espaillat) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ESPAILLAT. Madam Speaker, as we come off the historic Martin 
Luther King, Jr., holiday, it is incumbent upon all of us not just to 
reflect on his legacy but to really honor it.
  Honoring his legacy means really using our political strength, much 
of which was given to us by him and his struggle, to deliver the very 
voting rights protections he and countless other civil rights leaders, 
including our very own John Lewis, bled to secure.
  We simply cannot accept empty promises anymore, Madam Speaker, in 
pursuit of his dream for a more equal and just America, not from 
Senators who have the power to live fully in those ideals today and not 
from Members of this very Chamber.
  How can anyone, Madam Speaker, especially any Member of the Senate, 
celebrate this day of service, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, without 
standing for democracy and the rights of others?
  How can they, in good faith, deliver empty words or celebrate his 
legacy in the shadow of this current attack on access to the ballot box 
when they themselves have the power to stop it?

  But let me step back just a minute and put this in perspective, Madam 
Speaker. Just last year, Republicans introduced 440 voter suppression 
bills

[[Page H222]]

in 49 States. Nineteen States have already passed voting restrictions 
in 2021, with even more coming this year.
  These are acts of voter suppression occurring in nearly every State 
of the Union, targeting Black and Brown communities, working-class and 
poor communities, telling them that their votes and voices shouldn't be 
heard, violating the sacred concept of one person, one vote.
  Make no mistake, Madam Speaker: The restrictive voting laws that have 
passed and continue to be passed and pushed have directly targeted 
Black and Brown poor and working-class communities, directly targeting 
communities of color to make it harder for them to access the ballot 
box and to participate in our democracy.
  As we continue to honor Dr. King and his legacy today, the Senate has 
a choice: Abolish the filibuster or let democracy die.
  Madam Speaker, the filibuster is an arcane piece of Senate procedure 
that came to be by accident. It is a direct legacy to segregation and 
continues to hold back progress on civil rights to this very day.
  Its most famous use was against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, where 
its opponents filibustered for nearly 60 days. But it wasn't the first 
time, and it won't be the last.
  White southerners also invoked the filibuster to block a voting 
rights bill in 1891, with many of the same Senators filibustering again 
in the 1930s to block antilynching laws.
  Imagine that. The filibuster was used to block antilynching laws.
  We have a choice, Madam Speaker, between having a democracy or 
allowing racist systems to continue. It is simple. The filibuster is a 
monument to white supremacy, and we have to tear it down.
  I refuse to hear any cheap excuse about why protecting the very 
founding principle of this Nation isn't possible because of it, not 
when it has been changed 161 times.
  The filibuster, in the last five decades, has been changed 161 times 
to pass trade deals, tax cuts for the rich, Supreme Court Justices, and 
just recently for the debt ceiling.
  But that is not what we remember the filibuster for. We remember the 
filibuster for its racist roots, deeply embedded in Jim Crow, used to 
stop antilynching legislation.
  Madam Speaker, history will not look fondly on those who stand in the 
way of progress.

                          ____________________