John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to H.R. 4.

This legislation is named after a good man and a fellow Georgian, John Lewis, whom I was honored to call friend while we served together in this body.

And let me remind my colleagues on the other side of the aisle and the Speaker that I was the only Republican to join you in San Diego for the christening of the USNS John Lewis, and I did it because he was my friend. I did it because he should be honored.

While he was a good man, this legislation does nothing to advance the rights of our citizens to vote as my friends on the other side of the aisle would claim.

H.R. 4 is a radical and unprecedented Federal power grab over State- administered elections under the guise of updating the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

At the time, the extraordinary measures employed by the Voting Rights Act were important, however, thankfully, as the U.S. Supreme Court recognized in a 2013 decision, things have changed dramatically in the U.S. since 1965.

In fact, elections in 2018 and 2020 saw record turnout among Americans from minority communities.

Madam Speaker, H.R. 4 must be rejected to ensure that the Federal takeover of our elections stops right here.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source