[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 14959-14960]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 POPE FRANCIS' VISIT AND CALL TO DEFEND AND PRESERVE THE DIGNITY OF ALL

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                           HON. JOYCE BEATTY

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 28, 2015

  Mrs. BEATTY. Mr. Speaker, last week His Holiness Pope Francis 
addressed a Joint Session of Congress--an address that I, like many, 
found to be both profound and provocative.
  Pope Francis' first visit to our country coincided with a time when 
our nation as he stated, is ``marking the anniversaries of several 
great Americans'', including Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who 
fifty years ago led the Selma-to-Montgomery marches in order to achieve 
full civil and political rights for African-Americans.
  These marches culminated in the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 
1965, which offered African-Americans a piece of Dr. King's dream of 
equality, fairness, and justice.
  Yet, our nation continues to struggle with ensuring racial equality 
and voter enfranchisement; we have, as Pope Francis stated at the White 
House last week, ``defaulted on a promissory note'', but now is the 
time to honor it.''
  Let us continue to strive to follow the advice of Pope Francis and as 
envisioned by Dr. King--``to foster a culture which enables people to 
dream of full rights for all our brothers and sisters, instead of 
creating one which limits opportunity and growth.''

[[Page 14960]]

  We could take a big step in that direction by passing the bipartisan 
Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2015, H.R. 885.
  I urge all of my colleagues to cosponsor this important legislation 
and urge the Republican Leadership to bring it to the floor for a vote 
without delay.

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