For the People Act of 2021--Motion to Discharge

Floor Speech

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Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, we have the privilege to come to this floor and examine issues important to every American. And what could be more important than the fundamental right to participate in the guidance of our country and to be able to cast a ballot. And that ballot box, it is the pulsating heart of our Republic.

In fact, it is 56 years ago, just a couple of days ago, that President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. And what did he say? He said it is wrong--deadly wrong--to deny any American the opportunity to vote. Well, what was deadly wrong in 1965 is deadly wrong in 2021.

It is hard to believe that over 50 years--over half a century--has passed, and we are reverting to that period before 1965, where there was a systematic effort to target specific groups of voters and prevent them from going to the poll.

And we all know how this worked. On election day, there would be fewer precinct voting locations in those areas that you didn't want to vote, and they would be understaffed so there would be long lines, or their voting machines would be out of order, or they would change the location every 2 years so people would be confused about where to go, or they would locate them where there was no parking--all of these things deliberately aimed at preventing Black Americans from voting and preventing other communities of color from voting.

Well, today, we are seeing in State after State after State an expanded version of this, not just targeting Black Americans and other communities of color but also targeting poor communities and college students. And we see these laws unfolding in just the recent months.

I would expect 100 of our colleagues here to stand up and defend the ballot box. Aren't we long removed from those days of that racist past? But apparently not.

So some of us have to stand up and say: We are going to stand up to the vision of our Constitution where all men and women are created equal and every man and woman has the right to participate in the guidance of this country.

You know, we know that in the founding of our country, we had a beautiful vision, imperfectly formed, that Black Americans, Native Americans, and women were not allowed to vote. We fixed those things over time. We progressed in an arc to full opportunity, and that is what we are fighting for now--full opportunity of every citizen to have a full measure of what it means to be a participant in a Republic.

Well, there is much more in this bill to mend the assault on equal representation through the diabolical gerrymandering denied to bias the outcome from one party over the other, and certainly to keep billionaires from buying elections.

And when we ask people around the country--Independents, Democrats, Republicans--they all say: We do not want billionaires to buy elections. We do not want equal representation destroyed by diabolical gerrymandering, and we want every citizen to have access to the ballot box.

But in this Chamber, suddenly, the views of the Republicans across this country are forgotten by my Republican colleagues across the aisle. In that thirsty quest for power, they are willing to violate the fundamental principles that inspire our Nation, and it is wrong--deadly wrong--today as it was in 1965.

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