[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 10590]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           VOTING RIGHTS ACT

  (Ms. JACKSON LEE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, this morning a number of members of the 
CBC, the Congressional Black Caucus, will speak on the emotions, the 
value and the gift of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
  I thank our chairwoman, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, and I'm delighted 
to lead that moment this morning. I will tell the Members of Congress 
you will hear us over the next couple of weeks and months as we proceed 
to do what the Supreme Court has said that Congress must do and has the 
authority to do, and that is to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act of 
1965.
  I disagree with the court's decision, for that bill was firm. And 
just a few years ago, as a member of the House Judiciary Committee, 
with 15,000 pages, 21 hearings, a vote of 390-33 in the House and 98-0 
in the United States Senate, we reaffirmed every American's right to 
vote. In fact, since that passage, Virginia has had 11 of its 
jurisdictions opt out. Many other jurisdictions have opted out or taken 
the bailout provision. But yet, that decision now has left bare the 
soul of so many voters who will now be unable to vote because of the 
Voting Rights Act elimination or striking down of section 4.
  Mr. Speaker, if the Voting Rights Act is wrong, then Fannie Lou Hamer 
was wrong, the three civil rights workers were wrong, and Martin Luther 
King, Jr., was wrong.
  Today we stand together to encourage our colleagues, Republicans and 
Democrats, to work with us to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act.

                          ____________________