[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 14026-14027]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                URGING PASSAGE OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT

  (Mr. GONZALEZ asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)

[[Page 14027]]


  Mr. GONZALEZ. Mr. Speaker, in 1965 when the Voting Rights Act was 
first passed, Martin Luther King said, ``This represents a shining 
moment in the conscience of man.''
  What a wonderful opportunity for Democrats and Republicans to come 
together and reignite that shining light in the conscience of man.
  The Voting Rights Act does two things: It does not allow 
jurisdictions to discriminate against any United States citizen that 
wants to exercise the most sacred of all rights, and that is the right 
to vote. That gives you some control over your own destiny. But it does 
something else. It encourages and accommodates all other United States 
citizens that may have some sort of obstacle to overcome in order to 
exercise the most precious of all rights. That is what the Voting 
Rights Act accomplishes.
  And I am hoping that tomorrow we will have this wonderful opportunity 
to follow in the footsteps of those true giants in 1965 that came 
together on both sides of the aisle to pass the original Voting Rights 
Act.

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