John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021
Floor Speech
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Mrs. McBATH. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
During the Civil Rights Movement, I was a child in the stroller at the March on Washington. And my father, who was the president of the Illinois branch of the NAACP for over 20 years, he raised me to always fight for what is right and what is just; to stand up for those who don't always have a voice.
John Lewis embodied the spirit of justice, and he inspired so many to fight for voting rights. John did say, ``Freedom is not a state, it is an act.'' Freedom is the continuous action we all must take, and each generation must do its part to create an even more fair and more just society.
Today, we do our part. We stand up for the right to vote; freedoms this Nation was founded upon and freedoms which must long endure.
Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me today in the act of fighting for freedom, fighting for democracy, and supporting the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
Madam Speaker, I include in the Record letters of support for the Advancement Act. [From the New Democrat Coalition, Aug. 23, 2021] New Democrat Coalition Endorses H.R. 4
The New Democrat Coalition (NDC) announced its endorsement of H.R. 4, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. The bill, introduced by NDC Member Terri Sewell (AL-07), seeks to address the most egregious forms of recent voter suppression by restoring the protections of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and determining which states and localities with a recent history of voting rights violations must pre-clear election changes with the U.S. Department of Justice.
``Our responsibility as members of Congress is to ensure that the American people have trust in our democratic process and equitable access to the ballot box,'' said New Democrat Coalition Chair Suzan DelBene. ``Congresswoman Sewell is continuing Congressman John Lewis' legacy by reintroducing this crucial legislation all to keep our elections fair and open. The Coalition endorsed this bill because the right to vote is the most sacred and fundamental right our nation offers. We urge our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join us in passing this historic piece of legislation.''
I'm so proud that the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act has earned the endorsement of the New Democrat Coalition,'' said New Democrat Member Rep. Terri Sewell. ``The right to vote is the most sacred and fundamental right we enjoy as American citizens and one that the Foot Soldiers fought, bled, and died for in my hometown of Selma, Alabama. Today, old battles have become new again as we face the most pernicious assault on the right to vote in generations. By restoring federal oversight and preventing states with a recent history of voter discrimination from restricting the right to vote, this bill keeps the promise of our democracy alive for all Americans and advances the legacy of those brave Foot Soldiers like John Lewis who dedicated their lives to preserving the sacred right to vote.
The Coalition has long been an advocate for promoting voting rights and protecting American elections and endorsed H.R. 4 last Congress. Earlier this year, the Coalition also endorsed H.R. 1. the For the People Act, earlier this year. With the endorsement and expected House action on H.R. 4, the Coalition remains committed to advancing voting and campaign reform legislation through the Senate and to the President as soon as possible. ____ Sierra Club, August, 24, 2021.
Dear Representative: On behalf of the Sierra Club's 4 million members and volunteers, we are writing to urge a YES vote on the rule for the upcoming budget resolution and H.R. 4, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and the Senate Amendment to H.R. 3684.
Vote yes on the Rule containing S. Con 14/H.R. 3684 and H.R. 4.
The vote on this rule will deem the budget resolution that would initiate the reconciliation process to tackle the ongoing climate crisis, one of our nation's greatest threats.
Today's vote comes just days after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that the changing climate and extreme weather events we're already experiencing will continue to rapidly worsen. For many states this includes sea level rise, coastal flooding, more frequent storms, and extreme weather conditions, all of which threaten infrastructure and the abundant natural resources critical for the local economy. The growing local impacts of climate change are clear, but so too is the fact that climate inaction will have severe costs for the nation's economy.
The Sierra Club strongly urges you to consider the enormous significance of this moment and, VOTE YES on the budget resolution, so we can begin the necessary process through budget Reconciliation to address the climate crisis.
Vote yes on H.R. 4 The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
In addition to addressing our nation's climate crisis, it is imperative that we also protect our nation's democracy. The same communities most vulnerable to climate impacts are those disproportionately impacted and have been harmed by the dilution of the Voting Rights Act by the Supreme Court in 2013 and 2021.
Since then we have seen a rise in discriminatory voter laws, from cuts to early voting days to restrictive voter identification requirements. The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act would restore preclearance coverage for state, localities, and political subdivisions with a history of voter discrimination, and would increase transparency and public awareness for changes to voting and polling practices that can be confusing and deter American voters.
For these reasons we urge a yes vote on the rule for the budget resolution, and for democracy and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Sincerely, Dan Chu, Acting Executive Director. AFT, August 23, 2021. ____ U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Representative: On behalf of the 1.7 million members of the American Federation of Teachers, I strongly urge you to support the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (H.R. 4). The need to strengthen and re-establish the protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the crowning achievement of the civil rights movement, is more pressing now than ever before.
The late Rep. John Lewis once said, ``The vote is precious. It is almost sacred. It is the most powerful non-violent tool we have in our democracy.'' The bedrock of American democracy is participation at the ballot box for all, no matter their religion, their race, their income, their gender, their age, where they come from, what state they reside in or their ZIP code. Everything relies on voting rights, from the ability of local communities to run their schools and manage local services to the peaceful transfer of presidential power.
In the wake of two U.S. Supreme Court decisions--Shelby County v. Holder and Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee that gutted the Voting Rights Act, states have considered and enacted a rush of new laws making the right to vote harder to exercise, especially for communities of color. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, more than 400 voter suppression bills have been taken up by state legislatures since January of this year, and 18 states have already enacted 30 laws restricting the right to vote. Recent voter suppression measures embrace a variety of tactics including reducing early voting, eliminating polling places, giving local judges the ability to overturn elections, and making it a crime to deliver water or food to voters standing in line. While companion legislation with comprehensive national voting standards and reforms, such as the For the People Act, is needed to address the state laws already enacted, passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act is essential to prevent new state voter suppression measures from being enacted.
The latest actions of state legislatures show that the protections of the Voting Rights Act are still woefully needed. They prove that the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was right in her Shelby County dissent when she wrote that to use the success of the Voting Rights Act as proof that it is unneeded is as wise as not using an umbrella in a storm because you don't feel the rain. Most of the states that have recently enacted, or are currently debating, laws restricting the right to vote have a history of having their efforts blocked when the Voting Rights Act's preclearance requirements were in full effect. H.R. 4 would establish new preclearance formulas that would prevent states with a history of voter discrimination from enacting new laws that would suppress the vote. It would also ensure that last- minute voting changes do not adversely affect voters by requiring officials to publicly announce all voting changes at least 180 days before an election, and it would expand the government's authority to send federal observers to any jurisdiction where there may be a substantial risk of discrimination at the polls on Election Day or during an early voting period.
John Lewis reminded us, ``Each of us has a moral obligation to stand up, speak up and speak out. When you see something that is not right, you must say something. You must do something.'' This is your chance.
We urge you to defend voting rights throughout the country by supporting the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and renewing the fight for the comprehensive voting rights legislation that must accompany it.
Thank you for considering our views on this critical legislation. Sincerely, Randi Weingarten, President. ____ SEIU, August 20, 2021.
Dear Representative: On behalf of the 2 million members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), I write in support of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) as well as the Federal Fiscal Year 2022 Budget Resolution, and the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Taken together, these critical bills will help strengthen our democracy and deliver on the full promise of President Biden's Build Back Better agenda.
After years of inaction, the IIJA advances important programs in public transportation, clean water, broadband and climate resilience. These public investments would give our communities a much-needed boost and help support safer roadways and schools, cleaner water, and more available and affordable Internet. But much more has to be done to build our country back better and ensure that workers have unions and a voice in their own futures.
By advancing the infrastructure bill along with the Build Back Better reconciliation package, with its commitments to living-wage care jobs with the opportunity to join together in a union--a path to citizenship and climate justice, Congress can take bold measures needed to meet essential workers' demands for common-sense and transformative policy solutions.
The budget resolution is the key to creating the pathway we need for both the IIJA and the reconciliation bill. We call on you to act immediately to pass the FY 2022 budget resolution to move forward on President Biden's Build Back Better full vision. In addition, we strongly urge you to support the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. This crucial legislation will help protect our democracy against the widespread attacks on our freedom to vote that are being mounted across our country--so that we all have an equal say in our future and our rights are protected.
For these reasons, we urge you to support the IIJA, the FY2022 budget resolution, and the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. We will add votes on each of these bills to our legislative scorecard for the 117th Congress. Sincerely, Mary Kay Henry, International President. ____ LIUNA!, August 23, 2021. House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Representative: On behalf of the 500,000 members of the Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA), I want to express our strong support for H.R. 4, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021.
Since the 2013 Supreme Court Shelby County v. Holder decision, which challenged portions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, many states have enacted laws that restrict access to the polls by shortening early voting hours, enacting strict voter ID requirements, and decreasing the number of polling locations. These changes to the law disproportionally effect minority and disenfranchised communities. Just last month, in Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee, the Supreme Court decided that rules that impacted different populations unequally were not unfair. This decision opened the door even more broadly to different forms of voter suppression.
H.R. 4 is critically needed to help to reverse the negative effects of these restrictive state laws by requiring states and localities with a history of voting rights violations to pre-clear any changes to election laws with the Department of Justice. This important legislation will ensure that elections across this country remain fair and will restore the portions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that recent Supreme Court decisions have eliminated. In addition, this legislation will ensure that multilingual voting materials are more widely available and that polling places do not disproportionally serve privileged communities over communities of color.
For decades LIUNA has stood side by side with civil rights activists, including the late Congressman John Lewis, as they marched and took to the streets to fight for the critical issue of voting rights--one of the cornerstones of our democracy. LIUNA will continue to speak out against discriminatory laws and practices that attempt to disenfranchise voters. Ensuring all Americans have equal access to their constitutionally enshrined right to vote is a top priority.
LIUNA supports H.R. 4, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives with a bipartisan vote in the last Congress and urges you to vote for this much-needed legislation.
With kind regards, I am Sincerely yours, Terry O'Sullivan, General President. ____ National Education Association, August 23, 2021. Hon. Terri A. Sewell, House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Congresswoman Sewell: On behalf of the 3 million members of the National Education Association who work in 14,000 communities across the nation, we urge you to vote YES on the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021 (H.R. 4) because it will protect our most fundamental right as citizens and safeguard the integrity of our democracy. Votes on this issue may be included in NEA's Report Card for the 117th Congress.
NEA members help prepare students for the privileges and responsibilities of citizenship. They want students to understand how our government works and their role in making it work--especially through voting. Yet, accessing the vote has become more difficult in recent years, particularly for African Americans and other people of color, people with disabilities, students, and senior citizens. In fact, from January through mid-July of this year, nearly 400 bills were introduced in 49 states that would make voting more difficult, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. At least 18 of those states have enacted 30 new laws that restrict our freedom to vote.
The U.S. Supreme Court in the 2013 Shelby v. Holder decision invalidated a crucial provision in the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) that prevented states with a history of discriminating against voters from changing their voting laws and practices without preclearance by federal officials. This federal review was an important feature of the Voting Rights Act; doing away with it has virtually annulled the federal oversight that was--and remains--crucial to ensuring that millions of people have equal access to the ballot box. Since the Shelby decision, several states have changed their voting practices in ways that have created barriers for people of color, low-income people, transgender people, college students, the elderly, and those with disabilities.
Furthermore, just last month, the Supreme Court ruled in Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee that two discriminatory Arizona voting laws did not violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. In its opinion in Brnovich, the Court disregards the congressional purpose of Section 2, which is to provide a powerful means to combat race discrimination in voting and representation. The decision relies on a limited interpretation of the Voting Rights Act that will make it more difficult to challenge discriminatory voting laws. This decision underscores the need for Congress to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to restore the legislative purpose of Section 2.
The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act fills a distinct and critical role in protecting the freedom to vote and ensuring elections are safe and accessible by reversing these dangerous, undemocratic trends by taking several steps that include:
Updating the criteria used for identifying states and political subdivisions required to obtain federal review and approval of voting changes to ensure those changes do not infringe upon the freedom to vote for people of color;
Requiring that every state and locality nationwide that is sufficiently diverse obtain federal review before enacting specific types of voting changes that are known to be discriminatory in their use to silence the growing political power of voters of color;
Requiring all states and localities to publicly disclose, 180 days before an election, all voting changes, such as reductions in language assistance and changes in requirements to vote or register;
Authorizing the Attorney General to send federal observers to any jurisdiction where there is a substantial risk of racial discrimination at the polls;
Addressing the Brnovich decision by clarifying factors that voters of color can use to prove a vote dilution or vote denial claim under Section 2 of the VRA and restoring voters' full ability to challenge racial discrimination in voting in court;
Allowing the Department of Justice and voters of color to challenge changes in a voting rule that would make voters of color worse off in terms of their voting rights than the status quo;
Expanding authority for courts to ``bail-in'' jurisdictions to the preclearance process and updating the ability of jurisdictions to ``bail-out'' of the preclearance process once they demonstrate a record of not harming voters of color; and
Providing voters with additional protection by easing the standard for when courts can temporarily block certain types of voting changes while the change is under review in court. This is important because once a voter is discriminated against in an election, it cannot be undone.
NEA members live, work, and vote in every precinct, county, and congressional district in the United States. They take their obligation to vote seriously, viewing it as essential to protecting the opportunities that they believe all students should have. Educators teach students that voting is a responsibility of citizenship, a privilege people have died to protect, and a right we must dedicate ourselves to upholding. We urge you to vote YES on the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act so that all may participate in the electoral process and have a voice in our democracy. Sincerely, Marc Egan, Director of Government Relations, National Education Association. ____ AARP, August 24, 2021. Hon. Terri Sewell, Washington, DC.
Dear Representative Sewell: AARP, on behalf of our nearly 38 million members and all older Americans, is proud to support H.R. 4, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021. The right to vote is the most fundamental of all political rights, and all Americans must be able to exercise their vote freely, easily, and safely.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) has been our nation's preeminent law protecting the voting rights of all Americans. But recent Supreme Court decisions have weakened several provisions of the law. H.R. 4 would help restore the law and ensure the protections contained in the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution are enforced, by:
Creating a new coverage formula for all states and political subdivisions that takes into consideration repeated voting rights violations in the preceding 25 years;
Establishing a process for reviewing voting changes, focusing on measures that have historically been used to discriminate, including voter ID laws, the reduction of multilingual voting materials, changes to voting districts, and reductions in the number of polling locations;
Increasing transparency through public notice when voting changes are made; Expanding voting accessibility for Native American and Alaska Native voters; Allowing the Attorney General authority to request federal observers where there is a threat of racial discrimination in voting;
Allowing a federal court to order states or jurisdictions to be covered for results-based violations,
Clarifying that a voting change or practice is discriminatory even if other forms of voting are available to a protected class and;
Directing the Judicial Branch to discount a state or locality's claims of fraud as a reason to pass harmful voting laws if no evidence is presented of such fraud.
AARP looks forward to working with Congress and the Administration to ensure every citizen's right to vote. Sincerely, Nancy A. LeaMond,
Executive Vice President and Chief Advocacy & Engagement Officer. ____ American Public Health, Association, August 23, 2021. House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Representative: On behalf of the American Public Health Association, a diverse community of public health professionals that champions the health of all people and communities, I write in strong support of H.R. 4, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021.
Over the past decade, U.S. Supreme Court decisions such as Shelby County v. Holder and Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee have unfortunately eroded key protections provided by the Voting Rights Act that protect against racial discrimination in the voting process, giving many states the ability to suppress and discriminate against voters. This year alone, state lawmakers have introduced 400 bills and enacted 30 laws restricting access to voting in 48 states. The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021 would restore VRA protections by establishing a federal review process of changes to state voting laws. Potentially discriminatory changes would be paused until federal review is completed, and changes found to be discriminatory would be blocked entirely. Furthermore, strict oversight would be applied to states with histories of voter discrimination and policy changes known to be used to discriminate against voters of color.
Decades ago, the Institute of Medicine established in a report that voting is a public health issue because it helps shape ``the conditions in which people can be healthy.'' The ballot box is where community members can come together to decide on key issues that shape our response to today's public health emergencies: police brutality, gun violence, climate change and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We commend Congresswoman Terri Sewell and the other sponsors for introducing this landmark legislation and the House for bringing it up for a vote. I write in strong support of H.R. 4 and urge you to vote yes on the bill. The provisions in this bill would support the advancement of racial and health equity, a key APHA priority and a crucial step toward achieving the healthiest nation in one generation. Sincerely, Georges C. Benjamin, MD, Executive Director.
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