[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 39 (Tuesday, March 5, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1098-S1099]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Voting Rights Act

  Mr. President, it is Super Tuesday. Millions of Americans will vote 
in primaries in 16 different States. It is a day for Americans from all 
walks of life to express their political opinion and vote for the 
candidate they deem best suited for the highest office in the land.
  As Americans, our most fundamental right is the right to vote. My 
dear friend and colleague, the late Congressman John Lewis, called 
voting ``the most powerful nonviolent tool we have to create a more 
perfect union.''
  At our last Presidential election, more than 158 million Americans 
cast a ballot--the largest voter turnout in the history of the United 
States. But that record doesn't tell the whole story. Over the weekend, 
the Brennan Center for Justice released a report on the growing racial 
disparities in voting in America. They found that ``the racial turnout 
gap--or the difference in the turnout rate between white and nonwhite 
voters . . . has consistently grown since 2012 and is growing most 
quickly in parts of the country that were previously covered under 
Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which was suspended by the 
Supreme Court [of the United States] in its 2013 decision in Shelby 
County v. Holder.''
  So although record numbers of Americans are making their voices heard 
in elections, we are also witnessing an explosion of sinister efforts 
to discourage and silence many of these voices.
  Unfortunately, efforts to suppress the right to vote in this country 
are nothing new. Congress took action in 1965 when the U.S. Senate 
voted 77 to 19 to pass the Voting Rights Act, finally outlawing State 
practices that had denied millions of Americans--especially Black 
Americans--the right to vote.
  Over the next almost 50 years, the Voting Rights Act was reauthorized 
five times, always--always--by large, bipartisan majorities. Each new 
version expanded the promise and protection of the Voting Rights Act. 
The most recent was signed into law by Republican President George W. 
Bush in 2006.
  That all changed in 2013. The Supreme Court struck a deadly blow on 
the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County v. Holder. Before the Court's 
ruling in Shelby County, the Voting Rights Act required localities with 
a track record of disenfranchising voters of color to seek Federal 
approval for any changes in their voting laws. This requirement is 
known as preclearance, and it could have blocked many of the

[[Page S1099]]

restrictive voting provisions we have seen since that Supreme Court 
decision in States like Georgia and Texas.
  In 2021, the Supreme Court weakened another critical section of the 
Voting Rights Act with a decision in a case known as Brnovich v. 
Democratic National Committee, making it more difficult for plaintiffs 
to prevail in lawsuits against discriminatory voting laws, decisions, 
or procedures.
  With these rulings, the Supreme Court has fueled State-led efforts to 
suppress voters, particularly voters of color.
  Justice Elena Kagan wrote in her dissent to the Brnovich decision 
that ``in the last decade, this Court has treated no statute worse'' 
than the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
  This year's Presidential election will be the first general election 
since a wave of restrictive voting laws were passed in the aftermath of 
the 2020 election.
  Mr. President, did you ever take a look at the videos and reporting 
of people standing in line and waiting to vote?
  Did you ever notice, coincidentally, how many people standing in line 
are people of color? There always seems to be a lack of voting spaces 
for people of color when it comes to voting. Why is that? Well, I don't 
think it is an accident. I think it is a conscious decision. And before 
the Holder decision--the Shelby County v. Holder decision--there was a 
requirement for preclearance for the practices that lead to that.
  Voters in 27 States, more than half the country, will face 
restrictions on the right to vote they have never faced before because 
of the Supreme Court decision. Last year alone, State legislators in 14 
States enacted 17 laws that made it harder for people--particularly 
people of color--to vote. As Members of Congress, we must defend our 
democracy from these coordinated attacks on the fundamental right we 
have as Americans.
  Last week, a group of my colleagues and I reintroduced a bill bearing 
the name of John Lewis, whom I mentioned before, that would preserve 
and protect the rights of voters in America. This legislation will 
restore and strengthen the Voting Rights Act. This bill honors the 
legacy of John Lewis and countless other Americans who have fought and 
some have died for the right to vote.
  Last Congress, we tried to bring this legislation to the floor for a 
debate and a vote, but our Republican colleagues blocked it with a 
filibuster. This bill should unite Senators across the aisle, not 
divide us. In 2006, 98 Senators, Republicans and Democrats alike, voted 
to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act, with no votes in opposition. In 
2006--not that long ago--98 Senators voted to reauthorize this bill. At 
the time, Senator McConnell, who just spoke on the floor, said that 
``this is a good piece of legislation that has served an important 
purpose over many, many years.''
  That was the bipartisan support that greeted that bill in 2006. Yet, 
today, Senate Republicans have no interest in reauthorizing the Voting 
Rights Act to protect voters from efforts to suppress the right to 
vote.
  Next week, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing to 
examine the continued need to restore and expand the protections of the 
Voting Rights Act. This hearing is an important step, but we 
desperately need legislation, not just a hearing. Every year that goes 
by without passing this critical law leaves voters vulnerable--
particularly voters of color. That is why I am calling on my colleagues 
to join me in supporting the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.
  Congress has the power to restore voting rights, and we should do it 
because as John Lewis reminded us, ``Democracy is not a state. It is an 
act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we call 
the Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with 
itself.''
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Virginia.