[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 11908-11912]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1920
                    CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS HOUR

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Gibson). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 5, 2011, the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands 
(Mrs. Christensen) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the 
minority leader.
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
  Again, it is my pleasure to lead this Special Order this evening, and 
I thank again our Democratic leadership for giving us this time.
  Before I yield to the minority whip, I want to also add my 
condolences to the families who lost loved ones in the shooting in 
Aurora, Colorado, and to those who are recovering from their injuries, 
both physical and emotional. I want to add the condolences of the 
people of the Virgin Islands to all of them. They are all in our 
prayers. It happened that I had taken my granddaughter, Nia, to a 
preview of the movie the night before, and I really shudder to think of 
what everyone in that theater went through that night. It could have 
been us, and it still could be any one of us anywhere unless we do 
something to ban assault weapons and to turn back some of what the 
Republican Congresses have passed.
  One of the weapons used by Holmes was an AR-15 rifle, which is a 
semiautomatic weapon. If the assault weapon ban of the Violent Crime 
Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 had not been allowed to expire, 
it might be that 12 people, including a little girl, might still be 
alive. Our colleague, Gabby Giffords, would not be home, making what 
is, thankfully, a remarkable recovery, but the six people who died that 
day might be alive. A young man in St. Croix, who lost his life 
yesterday--and many others in the U.S. Virgin Islands and across this 
country--might still be alive if that ban were in place.
  So, again, on behalf of me and my family and of the people of the 
Virgin Islands, I offer condolences to the families of those who were 
lost and to the families of those who are recovering. They are in our 
prayers.
  At this time, I would like to yield such time as he may consume to 
our Democratic whip, a true leader for all Americans, leading us in 
many issues. Tonight, I believe, he is going to talk about voter 
protection, but he also has been working very hard to make sure that we 
Make It in America and that everyone is able to Make It in America.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentlelady for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friends in the Congressional Black 
Caucus for organizing today's Special Order, but as my colleague Mr. 
Engel and as my colleague on the Republican side and as Dr. Christensen 
have pointed out, our hearts and thoughts go out to and with those 
people who by happenstance of going to a movie have lost their lives, 
have been injured badly, have lost family members, have had the 
confidence of going out and about in this country put at risk. How we 
lament that loss of life, that loss of confidence, that loss of a sense 
of safety in their community.
  We need to address that issue--to instill confidence, to restore 
safety, to ensure that America continues to be a land in which people 
feel safe.
  Mr. Speaker, today, I want to talk about an issue that is central to 
America, and that is the right to vote. This is an issue that affects 
millions of Americans from every walk of life, but it will certainly 
have a disproportional effect on African Americans, Hispanic Americans, 
seniors, and youth.
  In 2008, we saw a record turnout from minority communities and 
younger voters as more Americans were energized to take part in our 
democracy. That democracy is our greatest strength, and the principle 
of ``one person, one vote'' has always been a vehicle for Americans to 
hold their government accountable and ensure it is responsive to the 
challenges we face as a Nation. We ought to be building on that 
progress we made in 2008 by encouraging more Americans to register to 
vote and cast their ballots. Indeed, in my view, the Nation--States, 
counties, communities, municipalities--need to be reaching out to 
people to make sure they know how to vote and to facilitate their 
votes, not to put stumbling blocks in the way.
  It continues to be deeply disturbing to witness a campaign of raising 
barriers to voting and voter registration by Republican-controlled 
legislatures in States across this country. My dear friend and 
colleague, a hero in American history, John Lewis, is a veteran of the 
fight for voting rights in the fifties and sixties. He carries the 
scars, both physical and in his memory, of the great effort to secure 
not just the right to vote but the freedom to exercise that right. 
That's why he is helping to lead this effort in 2012 to prevent voter 
suppression and to make certain our elections are open to all who are 
eligible to participate.
  He can attest that today's effort is a continuation of the work he 
began as a young man. Since the beginning of last year, 22 laws and two 
executive actions in 17 States have restricted our citizens' right to 
vote. Civil rights heroes like John Lewis refused to accept barriers to 
voting in the middle of the 20th century, and all of us--each and every 
one of us--is here today because we refuse to accept these new 
restrictions in the 21st century.
  That's why many of us introduced the Voter Empowerment Act in May. 
Our bill strengthens America's democracy by improving our voting system 
in three key areas: access, integrity, and accountability. It will 
reauthorize the Election Assistance Commission, create a national voter 
hotline for reporting problems, allow same-day and online registration, 
remove obstacles to voting for military personnel, and prohibit 
deceptive practices that discourage Americans from casting their votes.
  Each one of us in this House is opposed to voter fraud. Each one of 
us is opposed to any voter voting who is not eligible to vote. But very 
frankly, the good news in America is that is a very, very, very small 
problem. In fact, when proponents of restrictions are asked to cite 
examples, they are hard put to do so.
  Democrats, Mr. Speaker, are making the issue of voter access a major 
priority this year, because we believe that all Americans deserve to 
participate in this year's election and to have their votes counted 
accurately. We will continue to monitor our voting system and call 
attention to those who seek to undermine it.

                              {time}  1930

  Again, I want to thank the Congressional Black Caucus for its work on 
this critical issue, as well as the ranking member of the Judiciary 
Committee, Mr. Conyers, who has been such a hero on voting rights 
throughout his congressional career; the ranking member of the House 
Administration Committee, Mr. Brady; and the assistant Democratic 
leader, Mr. Clyburn.
  I'm proud that the fight for voter access has attracted a broad 
coalition of civil rights organizations, as well as the Congressional 
Hispanic Caucus and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, 
and that senior citizen organizations and, yes, representatives of 
young people are very concerned about the fact that eligible voters are 
being discouraged and, in some cases, suppressed from exercising their 
precious American right to vote. Let us never forget that generations 
have held it to be a moral duty to preserve the most powerful guarantor 
of our liberty: the right of every American to vote. We continue to 
stand up for it today, and hopefully each day as we proceed.
  Mr. Speaker, I mentioned a couple of times about what Democrats are 
doing. Let me refer now to an article that appeared in The Washington 
Post today, written by Charlie Crist, the former Republican Governor of 
Florida. He says:

       As a result of insidious political maneuvers and a lack of 
     respect for voters, we in Florida have been entangled in 
     litigation. The courts and the Justice Department have been 
     required to step in this summer to protect the integrity of 
     the voting process

[[Page 11909]]

     against a sweeping voter purge that the Florida Department of 
     State undertook under the guise of removing non-U.S. citizens 
     from voter rolls.

  He goes on to observe:

       Among those caught up in this shameless purging and 
     notified that he was not a U.S. citizen eligible to vote: a 
     91-year-old World War II veteran, Bill Internicola, who 
     fought in the Battle of the Bulge, and has proudly exercised 
     his right to vote for many years.

  Governor Crist, the former Republican Governor of Florida, concludes:

       The right to choose our leaders is at the heart of what it 
     means to be an American. Our history books are full of 
     examples to the contrary. When we send independent observers 
     to monitor for voter fraud in banana republics, we derive 
     authority from our self-regard as the ideal. When we hear of 
     corrupt voting practices in foreign countries, where the 
     ideal of democracy is nothing more than lip service, we feel 
     good about ourselves.

  He then went on to say, Mr. Speaker:

       It's time to look right under our noses. It's happening 
     here at home. And it's our responsibility to honestly assess 
     the root of the problem, which requires doing so with as 
     little partisan bias as we believe belongs in the 
     administration of our elections.

  He concluded with this statement:

       We can't be surprised every time it turns out that politics 
     are involved in politics, but neither can we be silent when 
     our democracy is threatened in its name.
       There are lines that should not be crossed; meddling with 
     voting rights is one of them. It is un-American, and it is 
     beneath us.

  I thank my friends in the Congressional Black Caucus for their 
leadership on this issue to make sure that the most precious right that 
every American has as a birthright is the right to vote. Let us not 
allow any steps to be taken by the Federal Government, by the State 
government, by county governments, or, yes, by municipal and local 
governments from impeding the rights of citizens to speak out in the 
most powerful way they can: voting.

               [From the Washington Post, July 20, 2012]

           The Voter ID Mess Subverts an American Birthright

                           (By Charlie Crist)

       For better or worse, the central principle behind the 
     unlimited contributions to super PACs that will dominate this 
     election cycle is simple: Money is speech, and we cannot 
     limit speech. Yet many who hold this freedom as an article of 
     faith are all too willing to limit an equally precious form 
     of speech: voting.
       If we don't speak out against these abuses, we may soon 
     learn the hard way the danger of that double standard. And a 
     dozen years after the 2000 recount that went all the way to 
     the U.S. Supreme Court, my state of Florida threatens to be 
     ground zero one more time.
       As Florida's attorney general from 2003 to 2007, I strongly 
     enforced the laws against illegal voting. When swift action 
     was necessary, I took it without hesitation. I did so out of 
     respect for our democracy--voting is a precious right 
     reserved only for U.S. citizens--but I'm concerned that 
     zealots overreacting to contrived threats of voter fraud by 
     significantly narrowing the voting pool are doing so with 
     brazen disrespect and disregard for our greatest traditions.
       As a result of insidious political maneuvers and a lack of 
     respect for voters, we in Florida have been entangled in 
     litigation. The courts and the Justice Department have been 
     required to step in this summer to protect the integrity of 
     the voting process against a sweeping voter purge that the 
     Florida Department of State undertook under the guise of 
     removing non-U.S. citizens from the voter rolls. Among those 
     caught up in this shameless purging and notified that he was 
     not a U.S. citizen eligible to vote: a 91-year-old World War 
     II veteran, Bill Internicola, who fought in the Battle of the 
     Bulge and has proudly exercised his right to vote for many 
     years.
       This is just the most recent example of a mean-spirited and 
     all-too-partisan attempt to restrict access to the rolls and 
     to the polls. A federal court also recently struck down 
     provisions of a law Florida's legislature passed in 2011, 
     which put heavy burdens on organizations seeking to help 
     voters: burdens that the court described as ``harsh and 
     impractical,'' serving no purpose other than to make it 
     harder for Americans to participate in the electoral process.
       These machinations make a mockery of the democracy we put 
     on display every Election Day. The right to vote is the key 
     to that democracy, giving value to the freedom of speech and 
     making the freedom of religion and the right to assemble 
     possible. When one takes away another's right to vote, he is 
     taking dead aim at democracy and undermining the very virtue 
     that makes us the envy of the world.
       Including as many Americans as possible in our electoral 
     process is the spirit of our country. It is why we have 
     expanded rights to women and minorities but never legislated 
     them away, and why we have lowered the voting age but never 
     raised it. Cynical efforts at voter suppression are driven by 
     an un-American desire to exclude as many people and silence 
     as many voices as possible.
       Our country has never solved anything with less democracy, 
     and we're far better off when more citizens can access the 
     polls--no matter which party mobilizes the most voters to 
     them. As governor of Florida, I extended voting hours and 
     increased the number of days people could vote. I also 
     restored registration rights for felons, years after starting 
     that effort in the state Senate with a member of the opposite 
     party.
       I was a Republican at the time of those decisions, which 
     didn't make me many friends on my side. But when you do the 
     right thing for the people, a political party's concerns roll 
     off your back quite easily.
       The right to choose our leaders is at the heart of what it 
     means to be an American. Our history books are full of 
     examples to the contrary. When we send independent observers 
     to monitor for voter fraud in banana republics, we derive 
     authority from our self-regard as the ideal. When we hear of 
     corrupt voting practices in foreign countries, where the 
     ideal of democracy is nothing more than lip service, we feel 
     good about ourselves.
       It's time to look right under our noses. It's happening 
     here at home. And it's our responsibility to honestly assess 
     the root of the problem--which requires doing so with as 
     little partisan bias as we believe belongs in the 
     administration of our elections.
       We can't be surprised every time it turns out that politics 
     are involved in our politics. But neither can we be silent 
     when our democracy is threatened in its name.
       There are lines that should not be crossed; meddling with 
     voting rights is one of them. It is un-American and it is 
     beneath us.

  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. We thank you for joining us again, as you've done 
many times before, and for those strong words and for your strong 
leadership. We look forward to working with you, Mr. Whip, to make sure 
that voting rights are preserved for all Americans.
  I would like to now yield such time as she might consume to the 
Congresswoman from Cleveland, Ohio, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge.
  Ms. FUDGE. Thank you so very much, and thank you as always for 
anchoring this CBC hour week in and week out. Thank you, Mr. Whip, for 
supporting this very important issue.
  Mr. Speaker, this is America. This is the land of the free and the 
home of the brave. I, too, sing America, land of the free and home of 
the brave, Mr. Speaker. America, the light on the hill, the standard, 
the example, a country built on democracy and inclusion. America, a 
country of men and women willing to give their lives to ensure the 
rights of all people to elect their leadership. But some right here in 
America are now doing all they can to restrict the ability for us to do 
the same. They're chipping away at the very foundation upon which all 
of our rights rest, and that is the right to vote. Yet 31 American 
States have begun limiting the rights of their citizens to participate 
in our democracy's most important function, and that is voting.
  If things remain as they are today, Mr. Speaker, by the 2012 
election, 11 percent, or 21 million American voters, may not be allowed 
to cast their ballot. Twenty-five percent of them will be African 
American and 18 percent of them will be our Nation's elderly. This is a 
national shame. The fact that this was a coordinated effort is a 
national scandal.
  Recently, the Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Mike Turzai told the 
State's Republican committee, ``Voter ID, which is going to allow 
Governor Romney to win the State of Pennsylvania--done.''
  They can't win without cheating? Have they no shame? Mr. Turzai and 
others are blatantly and boldly attempting to encumber the rights of 
the American people. They do not want a level playing field.
  A trend that began in just a few States like Pennsylvania has now 
sparked a wildfire. In Texas, you can face prosecution for registering 
voters. Five States--Alabama, South Carolina, Texas, Kansas, and 
Wisconsin--all have passed laws requiring voters to produce a 
government-issued ID before casting a ballot. In Florida, Georgia, 
Tennessee, and West Virginia, early voting and absentee voting have 
been cut short. Even in my home State of Ohio, we're still fighting. We 
are fighting restrictive actions taken by our State legislature.
  Time and time again, Ohio Republicans have tried everything in the

[[Page 11910]]

book to keep voters away from the polls. Ohio's current legislation 
will keep as many as 54,000 legitimate voters in my district alone from 
voting. It could restrict 4 percent of all voters in our county from 
voting, the county with the highest percentage of minorities.
  I'm quite a sports fan. In sports, if somebody wants to change the 
outcome of a game, they do something that they call ``point-shaving.'' 
What this is is point-shaving. If we can shave off enough points in 
every State, even if it is one or two points, this election can be up 
in the air. It's point-shaving.
  Sometimes I think it is time for America to be angry. Sometimes 
someone needs to know we won't lay down without a fight, that we won't 
just throw in the towel in defeat. If we fail to act, if we ignore the 
vicious attack on the right to vote, if we don't do what we need to do 
to educate voters and fight these suppressive laws, it will have an 
effect in November and many years beyond.
  If we stand idly by, how many voters will be disenfranchised due to 
changes in voting rules? If we sit on the sidelines, how many people 
will come to the polls with a utility bill and be turned away because 
they need a government-issued ID? If we say nothing, how many people 
will be erroneously purged from the county voter rolls? In my county, 
that's many people. If we do nothing, how many people will be denied 
the opportunity to register to vote because community and religious 
groups can no longer hold voter registration drives?
  In the past year, more States have passed more laws punishing more 
voters out of the ballot box than any time since the rise of Jim Crow.
  Join my colleagues and me. Get angry, America. The time for action is 
now.
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. I thank you for joining us and making it plain, 
Congresswoman Fudge: The time for making this right is now.
  We are also joined again by our colleague, Sheila Jackson Lee, the 
gentlelady from Texas. I yield her such time as she may consume.

                              {time}  1940

  Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. I thank the gentlelady from the Virgin 
Islands for, again, leading us on a very important topic, one of which 
that I have worked on, Mr. Speaker, for the time that I have had the 
privilege of serving in this House. And I would venture to say, Mr. 
Speaker, that I believe that if I look to this side of the House and 
this side, we would all hold to the view that it is important to have 
one vote, one person.
  And then we hold to the view that I have been saying, regardless of 
our ups and downs in the economy, that we do live in the greatest 
nation in the world. I say it all over, everywhere. There are too many 
great things that are happening in America. There are too many great 
men and women in the United States military. There are too many great 
individual personal stories of survival and small businesses and family 
farms.
  I live in a great State. And I get to see urban America. I get to see 
family farms, small businesses. I get to see ranchers and people who 
are struggling against droughts but are still hanging in there. We 
have, in Texas, a potpourri of the Nation. So I know that we live in a 
great Nation.
  I happen to have had the privilege of serving in a district that the 
Honorable Barbara Jordan first served in. This district was not created 
before Barbara Jordan served. And Barbara Jordan, who was an honorable 
Member of this House, ran many times in a segregated and southern 
Texas. Many of the times that she ran, she lost. But it was only after 
the 1965 Voting Rights Act, when they created the opportunity for 
districts, that Barbara Jordan was able to win a seat in the State 
Senate. Her picture now is in the State Senate as the only African 
American woman who served as a Governor for the day. So this is the 
great news, what the Voting Rights Act of 1965 generated.
  She went on to become the first African American elected out of the 
deep South with Andy Young. And out of that great leadership, she was 
able to add language to the Voting Rights Act, to create language for 
minorities which, in essence, provided extra protection for those who 
had been discriminated against.
  Let me remind my colleagues that all I speak of is one vote, one 
person. That's what redistricting is about. That's what we stand here 
today and speak of.
  We in the Congressional Black Caucus believe it is important, along 
with the Democratic Caucus--and again, I extend my hand of friendship, 
I believe, to all Americans--that we fight for one vote, one person; 
that we fight for extending open, if you will, the doors of opportunity 
through voting.
  Let me make note of this one point: Sixty years after the American 
Revolution, Americans were fighting to expand the right to vote. In 
1842, Thomas Dorr, a white male legislator from Rhode Island, led a 
huge crowd of citizens, workers, and artisans, white men who were being 
denied the right to vote because they did not own property. The working 
man who had no property fought for the right to choose his Nation's 
leaders and did not win until 1850.
  If we just put ourselves in each other's shoes--nonproperty owners, 
women who did not get the right to vote until the 20th century--we 
would understand what it means now when voter ID laws are being passed 
across America. And voters who are vulnerable, voters who are 
Americans--Americans such as the 95-year-old woman in Pennsylvania who, 
in essence, is not covered by the Voting Rights Act because of a voter 
ID law. She cannot vote because she does not have her birth 
certificate.
  We looked for my mother, Ivaleta Jackson's birth certificate until 
her death. We made all kinds of efforts. We moved and moved and moved 
and moved to the place of her birth, which was the State of Florida, 
and could not find that birth certificate. But she had a voter 
registration card. And I can tell you, by God, that was a citizen, a 
proud citizen of this Nation who had seen her brother go to World War 
II, her relatives be in the war. She was someone who loved America, who 
worked as a laborer but provided, along with my father, for our family.
  Would I deny her the right to vote in a State that would have a voter 
ID law? This is not about a picture, about someone impersonating a 
voter. It really is a larger question of the Constitution that provides 
us with due process. Taking away your voting rights is not due process.
  So I join my colleagues in supporting the Voter Empowerment Act, 
same-day registration, protecting voters, having the right to sign up 
online. And there is one sentence that says, ``No provision passed by 
any State can intimidate or prohibit a person from voting.''
  Why would we not want to vote, Mr. Speaker? The argument that I would 
make is, when I have had the privilege to travel on behalf of this 
great Nation--I remember one of my distinctive trips was as an early 
and new Member of Congress going into Sarajevo, landing before the 
Dayton Peace Agreement had ever been signed. Joining me was our former 
majority leader Dick Armey. We went into Bosnia, the former Yugoslavia, 
and Croatia after our brave Americans had worked to bring peace to that 
region. We wanted to see what was going on.
  When we went to a city like Sarajevo, my eyes could not believe what 
I was seeing. People were walking the streets in destitute conditions. 
Books from the library were all thrown out on the street. Buildings 
look like they had their heads shaved off, just cut off--maybe by, if 
you will, a chainsaw, because it was from the bombing. And as we walked 
the streets, because there was no transportation, we were going to meet 
with the president, then, of that country. We landed, as I indicated, 
under a French flag. I had a flak jacket on to get off the plane.
  When we went in, they told us that they just had a city election. A 
city election? In the meantime, I will tell you, as I was walking, a 
mother came up to me in all black, an elderly woman, and she said, Have 
you seen my son? He went off to the war. I haven't seen him.

[[Page 11911]]

  This is the destitution of the people. And they told me that that 
city election had 98 percent of the people in that city voting. What is 
happening to America? There is so much intimidation at the voting 
polls. There are so many headlines about who cannot vote, that people 
don't vote. That is not the great country that we love.
  We're purging people off of rolls instead of sending them a notice 
and saying, Are you registered to vote? Or do you want to stay on the 
roll? They're not. A million people in Florida, 1.5 million in the 
State of Texas, a voter ID law that the courts are now reviewing 
because there is merit to the fact that these are prohibiters of people 
voting.
  In the State of Texas, they have a voter ID law that's tracked to the 
Department of Public Safety, a great organization that does not have 
offices in every county in that State. We have 254 counties, and we've 
got 80 or 90 of them without Department of Public safety offices.
  So I think it is important, as we look to the 2012 November election, 
that we be reminded that this is not about party politics. It's not 
about who gets the upper hand. For Americans, it is about one person, 
one vote. And it is to remind us of days past that, yes, those of us 
who came out of a history of slavery could not vote. But also, white 
men who were not property owners could not vote; women could not vote; 
white men could not vote who were not property owners. And certainly 
Asians at one time could not vote. Latinos at one time could not vote. 
But America has grown up, and we recognize the value of that.
  So I think it is enormously important that we join together to 
support the Voter Empowerment Act that we have worked on, and that we 
recognize the issue of voter protection. This is crucial.
  And I do want to close by, again, expressing my sympathy to those in 
Colorado. But we have had a litany of these tragic issues. I remember 
how much we mourned the tragedy in Arizona. And now we come full 
circle, where there are families in such pain.
  I think part of the pain is that when you send someone to a place of 
innocence, to a town hall meeting on the square, to the movie theater, 
which is really America's part-time pastime. Everyone knows those 
Friday night movies and Saturday movies, families, children, one couple 
with a baby. And they said, We didn't have a babysitter. I understand 
that. I was a young mother with my spouse in an area where we moved 
away from our families. It was hard to find babysitters. So you take a 
sleeping baby to the movie. There is no sin in that.

                              {time}  1950

  But it is an innocent place. It is a place where you can have joy, 
and enjoy the genius of America in producing these films. And what 
happened? Someone who was intent on evil came and destroyed lives. 
Someone who didn't want their mark to be only in the theater, but they 
wanted it to be on the innocent neighbors who might by chance do what 
every neighbor does when you're too loud in your place and it is next 
door to their place, to ask you to please turn the music down. Just 
think, Mr. Speaker, if someone had asked to turn the music down or had 
asked by either knocking loud or entering that apartment, that door was 
cracked, maybe it was the kind of apartment where neighbors felt 
comfortable to do that, and if they just entered, the enormous disaster 
and havoc and carnage and bloodshed that would have been added to the 
bloodshed.
  I made a plea earlier today on the floor of the House, I am, in fact, 
going to do that. I am going to invite the National Rifle Association 
to one of my meetings. I want to sit down and talk to them about how we 
can work together because I want an explanation on why someone can buy 
6,000 rounds of ammunition on the Internet without any oversight 
whatsoever. Why is there no basis of giving notice? If they had given 
notice to the local police, maybe someone would have knocked on the 
door and found out what was going on, not last Thursday but a week 
back, last month.
  We can find a way to come together. This is not rocket science to 
determine why you're getting 6,000 rounds. And you know what pains me, 
Mr. Speaker, you know what causes me to bleed? It causes me to bleed 
that active duty troops lost their lives, as the story tells. Sitting 
in their own Nation, unarmed, along with innocent civilians. We know 
that those troops, if they could have stopped it, if they were in their 
armor, they would have been on the front lines protecting the homeland.
  I am saddened by the condition of this individual, saddened by what 
is represented to be this individual's circumstance. Those of us who 
deal with terrorism and sit on the Homeland Security Committee, have to 
raise a question about this incident.
  I close by simply giving my deepest sympathy to the people of 
Colorado, the congressional delegation of Colorado, and again our dear 
friend Congressman Perlmutter and all of the delegation for those whose 
districts overlap those areas, and to say that the American people will 
continue to pray, to lift them up because as I started out, this is the 
greatest Nation in the world. I know that we can find a solution to the 
opportunities of democracy, and we can find a solution to a peaceful 
way of coexisting so that people are protected as they walk the 
highways and byways, and law enforcement officers, United States 
military, babies, young people, and others similarly situated who come 
out for a simple opportunity of friendship and fellowship and fun. 
America is better than what happened last Thursday, and we are 
certainly better than denying individuals their right to democracy.
  I thank the gentlelady for yielding to me, and I look forward to 
working with you and the Congressional Black Caucus and the entire 
Congress and the Democratic Caucus on standing tall for that 
constitutional right, precious right to vote, and standing tall for the 
protection of America, for people, and the homeland.
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. I thank you, and I thank you again for joining us 
and offering your views and your vision for what we could be and what 
we should be, and for your strong words in defense of Americans' right 
to vote.
  As I said this is the America that goes around the world to monitor 
and ensure that people in other countries exercise their right to vote. 
So we know that the right to vote is sacred. It is a sacred right. Many 
sacrificed and some died for that right. As our Democratic whip said, 
it is the most powerful guarantor of our liberty, and we must protect 
the right to vote, and we need to support the Voter Empowerment Act.
  I want to go back to the issue of guns and violence. One might ask 
what do guns, what does the gun issue have to do with the right to 
vote. But, unfortunately, it has been used to deny voting rights in the 
District of Columbia, the place in which we meet. The District of 
Columbia has been the victim of the gun lobby and overzealous gun 
support in the Senate. Instead of passing a bill to extend the voting 
rights that the residents of the District of Columbia deserve, the 
Senate attached amendments that would overturn some of the local laws 
that are meant to stem the tide of gun violence in the city, meant to 
restore peace and safety to its streets and neighborhoods.
  So in addition to the violence that could follow from allowing 
concealed weapons, as their amendment would do in just about every 
venue, against the wishes and rights of the District of Columbia to 
decide, doing what they did would allow another sort of violence. It 
did untold violence to the District by holding its voting rights, the 
voting rights that it should have in this body hostage. That is unfair, 
and it is just plain wrong.
  But in addition, it is some of the poorer neighborhoods in this 
country where poverty and other ills breed violence. It is in those 
neighborhoods that we see the voter restrictive policies are being 
placed. Their ability to vote for individuals who would help them to 
quell the violence in their neighborhoods and keep their families safe, 
it is their ability to vote that is being interfered with most by these 
laws that are

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being passed by Republican legislatures, and promoted and signed by 
Republican governors.
  I hope that this Congress, and if not this one the next, will have 
the courage to pass strong and sensible gun control laws. Yes, we are 
very concerned, as has been said--and which is the subject of our 
Special Order this evening--about voter protection in the face of many 
States that are passing laws to restrict voting in ways that do 
particular harm to the rights of young people, seniors, people of 
color, and the poor to vote.
  As we were reminded, it was made abundantly clear a few weeks ago by 
that Republican Pennsylvania legislator what the intent of these new 
restrictive voter so-called poll tax laws are all about: they are being 
passed to try to defeat President Obama. Well, I have news for them. 
Those very groups that they are trying to keep from voting, the good 
people of this country are not going to let that happen. That brings us 
right back to the need for gun control legislation. The communities 
that need it most are also the ones that most need us to protect their 
right to vote. Although everyone in this country must have their right 
to vote protected, these are the communities where there is violence, 
where there is poverty, that we must work very hard to protect their 
right to vote.
  In too many communities, violent crime is rising. It is due to the 
flow of guns, the increase in assault weapons, and it has to be 
stopped. It is time for us to come together to save our young people, 
and really to save ourselves. Gabby's shooting shows that none of us 
are safe unless all of us are safe. My and many other communities are 
calling out for help. This is a crisis in many parts of our country, 
and we who are elected to provide for the welfare of our communities 
and our country have an obligation to do just that. So let's come 
together. Let's all support the legislation that is before us, the 
Voter Empowerment Act. Let's also pass gun control legislation. And in 
the end, though, it is in the voters' hands to decide in November 
whether we are going to have safe streets and neighborhoods, whether 
this assault on voting rights will stop. And if we just protect their 
right to vote, I know that they will do the right thing.
  With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

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