[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 4554]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             VOTING RIGHTS

  (Mr. HOYER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, we just passed a bipartisan bill that 
addressed an issue, as the previous speaker said, that needed to be 
addressed.
  Yesterday, Mr. Speaker, the Supreme Court handed down a decision in 
Alabama Legislative Black Caucus v. Alabama which ought to give every 
Member pause regarding the position that Federal voting protections are 
no longer needed to ensure that all Americans can register and vote.
  The Court found that Alabama legislators may have drawn congressional 
districts after the last census in a manner that diluted the voting 
strength of African American citizens. The Court raised disturbing 
questions, Mr. Speaker, about how African Americans are represented in 
Alabama's congressional districts and returned the case to a lower 
court for further consideration.
  Mr. Speaker, we are a nation that prides itself on its unflinching 
willingness to confront its sins of segregation and voter suppression 
that kept millions of Americans from participating equally for 
generations.
  On the same day the Court ruled, we marked the 50th anniversary of 
the Selma marchers finally reaching Montgomery. Such anniversaries are 
reminders of how much--or how little progress--we have made to realize 
the principles and rights embodied in our Constitution.
  With that in mind, Mr. Speaker, I urge us to proceed, as we did 
today, in a bipartisan fashion to restore the Voting Rights Act to its 
full force and effect to protect all Americans. And I urge my 
colleagues to work together to bring the bipartisan Voting Rights 
Amendment Act to the floor and restore the full power of the Voting 
Rights Act without delay.
  We acted in a bipartisan fashion today. Let's do it tomorrow on the 
Voting Rights Act.

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