[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 123 (Tuesday, July 18, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H3700]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

            By Mr. SARBANES:
        H.R. 11.
        Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Freedom to Vote Act Constitutional Authority Statement
       The Freedom to Vote Act relies upon many separate bases of 
     constitutional authority, each of which vests in Congress the 
     power to enact pro-democracy legislation. First, Congress has 
     broad authority to regulate the time, place, and manner of 
     congressional elections under the Elections Clause of the 
     Constitution, article I, section 4, clause 1. Second, 
     Congress has both the authority and responsibility, as the 
     legislative body for the United States, to fulfill the 
     promise of article IV, section 4, of the Constitution, which 
     guarantees to every state a republican form of government. 
     Third, Congress has broad authority pursuant to section 5 of 
     the Fourteenth Amendment to enforce the provisions of the 
     Fourteenth Amendment, including its protections of the right 
     to vote and the democratic process. Fourth, Congress has 
     authority pursuant section 2 of the Fifteenth Amendment, 
     which explicitly bars denial or abridgment of the right to 
     vote on account of race, color, or previous condition of 
     servitude. Finally, Congress has the power to protect the 
     right to vote from denial or abridgment on account of sex, 
     age, or ability to pay a poll tax or other tax pursuant to 
     the Nineteenth, Twenty-Fourth, and Twenty-Sixth Amendments.
       The single subject of this legislation is:
       The freedom to vote.