[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2032]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                          BLACK HISTORY MONTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. 
Smith) for his kindness in allowing me this time, and I want to join 
others in commending the Congressional Black Caucus and our colleague, 
the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Jones), for her leadership in calling 
this Special Order today.
  Nothing speaks to the contribution made by the African American 
community to our great country than the eloquence that we heard on this 
floor today from our Members and the fine record of achievement by the 
African American community and the members of the Congressional Black 
Caucus to Congress over time.
  The focus today on this celebration of Black History Month has been 
election reform. My colleagues, including the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Lee), talked about the history of voting rights in this 
country and how African Americans first got those rights and what the 
struggle has been. Now, as we look to the future, we must improve.
  The issue of electronic voting, using technologies for the future, 
having a uniform standard, even if it is not a uniform manner of 
casting ballots and counting them, is essential. We must be very 
proactive in making sure that the people in all of our communities, 
including the African American community, know that when they vote, 
they will be counted, that indeed they do count.
  We must be aware of the fact that some of the technology may increase 
the disparity that we have, so I caution us as we go forward to involve 
ourselves in those technologies which increase participation and which 
are more uniform in their standard rather than again advantaging those 
who have more resources with technology at home.
  So while we have big challenges ahead, again we are blessed with the 
resources, the human resources of the Congressional Black Caucus in 
this Congress. And I want to point with pride to a newly elected member 
of our Board of Supervisors in San Francisco, Sophie Maxwell. She comes 
from a proud tradition. Her mother, Enola Maxwell, is very active in 
education and other social and economic justice issues in our 
community. Sophie is a member of the Democratic State Central 
Committee. She has been a leader on issues in our community. She has 
made us, and will make us, all very proud.
  But back to the Congressional Black Caucus, I want to thank them for 
what they are doing. It is important to the black community and 
important to the Black Caucus, and it is important to our great 
country.
  With that, Mr. Speaker, though I have so much more to say but only a 
little time, I wish to yield to a great leader, someone we are very, 
very proud of in California, she is a national leader on this and so 
many other subjects important to strengthening our country and making 
the future brighter for all of America's children, the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Waters).
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), for her generosity in sharing 
her very limited time with me so that I will have an opportunity to 
continue my remarks on this very important issue of elections and 
election reform.
  I am very proud to announce that the minority leader, the gentleman 
from Missouri (Mr. Gephardt), today appointed me to serve as the 
chairperson for a Democratic Caucus special election reform committee. 
I am honored to accept that appointment and to work with the vice 
chairs of that committee to travel across this country holding town 
halls, workshops, and meetings where we will listen to the people. We 
will hear from the people the problems that they are experiencing in 
their States and in their jurisdictions as it relates to the elections 
process.
  We were focused on the problems of the election system in Florida in 
this recent election, and we were amazed at the disenfranchisement that 
took place there in so many different ways. But we have come to 
understand that it is not simply Florida, but everywhere we look in 
this country we can point to problems. Those problems include 
dysfunctional voting machines, long lines where people are waiting to 
vote that cannot get in before the polls close. We saw the butterfly 
ballot, and we learned that that was kind of the decision of one 
person. We saw in Florida, for example, that one person in the 
elections office could determine that absentee ballots or requests or 
applications could be taken out from the office to be taken home to be 
worked on. We saw all kinds of things.
  So we are going to go around the country, and we are going to hear 
more. We are going to hear about consolidations that eliminate the 
ability for people to participate. Again, we have a lot of work to do. 
We will be doing that, and we hope that everyone who would like to be 
involved can be involved in this.

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