[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 10634-10635]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           VOTING RIGHTS ACT

  (Mr. HORSFORD asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. HORSFORD. Let me just say it's good to see the freshman class 
president from the other side at the Speaker's podium this evening.
  Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday, the Supreme Court struck down critical parts 
of the Voting Rights Act, and I, like my colleagues, am deeply 
disappointed in this decision.
  Justice Scalia said the Voting Rights Act is a ``racial 
entitlement.''
  Voting is not a racial entitlement. It is a right for every eligible 
voting age citizen. It is an American entitlement.
  Voter suppression tactics have become more sophisticated, but they

[[Page 10635]]

have not disappeared. The Voting Rights Act blocked more than 1,000 
voting law changes between 1982 and 2006, and last year alone, the 
Voting Rights Act stopped a voter ID law in Texas and a Florida law 
that eliminated early voting days.
  Now it has fallen to Congress to safeguard our most sacred right, and 
I will work with anyone from either party who understands the need to 
protect this fundamental right. I urge this body to work together to 
fix the Voting Rights Act.

                          ____________________