[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 1880]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       TERRITORIAL VOTING RIGHTS

  (Ms. PLASKETT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, this month, as we pay homage to the many 
achievements and contributions to our great Nation by African American 
men and women, and earlier this week my colleagues spoke on this floor 
commemorating the 50th anniversary of the march on Selma and the 
subsequent passage of the Voting Rights Act, I want to call to the 
attention of my colleagues here in Congress that there are still 
American citizens today that do not have equal voting rights--some 4 
million citizens, to be exact. These are citizens and residents of 
America's island territories: the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, 
Guam, and Northern Mariana Islands.
  These overseas U.S. territories have been part of the United States 
for over 115 years. That is more than half as long as there has been a 
U.S. Constitution.
  Our service has gone above and beyond, giving this great Nation even 
its very banking system, through fellow Virgin Islander Alexander 
Hamilton. Our service has gone even to having the highest rate of 
military service in the United States, with some 7 percent higher than 
other areas, the national average, in casualties in Afghanistan and 
Iraq.
  I implore this Congress and urge them to pass the Voting Rights Act, 
and also to extend those rights to its U.S. citizens abroad.

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