John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. ARRINGTON. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend from Louisiana for yielding.

Madam Speaker, COVID was the excuse to bail out blue States poorly managed and union pensions poorly managed. Our current recession has been the excuse to pay people more to be on unemployment than to be at work or to permanently expand the social welfare programs that were supposed to be temporary and targeted.

The supposed climate crisis is the excuse for destroying our energy independence. And if you listen to my colleagues' comments today, you would think there was rampant voter suppression and a rise of racial discrimination in voting. That is not true. That is simply not true. It is divisive, and I would suggest that it is dangerous for our country.

The real crisis, Madam Speaker, is America's confidence in the integrity of our elections because elections are the backbone of our democracy, and so we need to make sure we do everything to ensure a free and fair process and an accurate outcome.

That is the responsibility, according to the Constitution, of the States. We don't need Federal Government lawyers or the DOJ to be weaponized against States' efforts to make these reforms with respect to voter ID, mail-in ballot eligibility, and other integrity reform measures.

Madam Speaker, let's stick to the Constitution. Let's uphold it. Let's protect the States' right to secure and improve election integrity for our citizens and our electoral process in this great country.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source