John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021
Floor Speech
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Ms. PELOSI. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for the recognition, and I acknowledge his tremendous leadership over time, including right now on the issue of voting rights in our country. I thank him for bringing this important legislation to the floor and to do so under the name of Congresswoman Terri Sewell, the author of the bill, who has been working on this for a long time, since the assault on the legislation, on these laws by the Supreme Court.
I also thank Mr. Clyburn, a champion from the civil rights era to now, always fighting for all of this; and Zoe Lofgren, the chair of the Committee on House Administration.
We have so many people to acknowledge; Mr. Butterfield for his work in establishing the constitutional record, as well as Marcia Fudge, now Secretary Fudge, for her work. So many people worked to build a constitutional basis to make it ironclad so that the Supreme Court of the United States cannot once again do violence as it did in Shelby County v. Holder and the most recent assault on section 2.
Madam Speaker, I think my colleagues will all agree that many wonderful honors are afforded us as Members of Congress. I can think of none that is more poignant than being here today to be able to speak on this important issue named for John Lewis. It is almost a religious experience because of the sanctity of the vote, which is greatly at risk.
Our colleagues have mentioned some of the assaults on voting that have taken place to undermine what we are, a democracy. We talk about the preamble where 230 years ago our Founders gave us guidance in the words, ``we the people'' establishing a government in which the people, not a king, would shape their own destiny.
Ever since, Americans have fought to make real that promise for all citizens while enshrining in the Constitution the 13th and 15th amendments and the 19th amendment, which we are celebrating this week to expand voting rights to women and to passing landmark civil and voting rights protections, including the Voting Rights Act.
Right here in this very Chamber the Voting Rights Act was passed. President Lyndon Johnson spoke in a beautiful speech, the ``We Shall Overcome'' speech, in which he called the VRA's passage, ``The history of this country, in large measure, is the history of the expansion of that right to all of our people.''
We all know that the story of America is a story of ever-expanding freedoms, yet today, that story and those rights are under threat from a targeted, brazen, and partisan campaign to deny Americans the ballot.
This campaign is anti-democratic, it is dangerous, and it demands action.
Today, the House will pass H.R. 4, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to combat this anti-democratic tide. This bill restores the power of the Voting Rights Act, as President Johnson said, `` . . . one of the most monumental laws in the entire history of American freedom.''
Any diminishment of the Voting Rights Act is a diminishment of our democracy. In America, the right to vote must never be compromised.
Again, I thank Representatives Sewell, Mr. Butterfield, Marcia Fudge, Jerry Nadler, Zoe Lofgren, Mr. Clyburn, and so many who made this day possible.
And let me pause to salute our beloved conscience of the Congress, the late John Lewis, whose words guide us. ``The vote is precious,'' he said. ``It is almost sacred. It is the most powerful, nonviolent tool we have in a democracy.''
The previous speaker mentioned that he had been at the christening of the USNS John Lewis. We were all together in San Diego, and we were honored that the Congressman was there with us.
As he was saying those words, I was remembering that day. We were all very excited. It was the largest contingent of Members of Congress to go to the christening of a ship--and I have been to several, so I know--and what it was reminding me of is when we had gone a couple years ago in 2019 to Ghana; John Lewis led us there. It was the 400th anniversary. You were there, Madam Speaker. Mr. Clyburn and so many others were there. We were there with John Lewis, and we went to the door of no return, which now is the door of return as they were welcoming people back.
I have on this bracelet that I got from the President of Ghana when we were there as a remembrance of that trip, and I have it on now because what John Lewis said then, and apropos of the christening of a ship, We may have all come to this country on different ships, but now we're all in the same boat. That is what John Lewis said. He said it in Ghana. He said it many times.
We are all in the same boat. We all should have the right to vote. And that should not be diminished by anyone. It is unpatriotic to undermine the ability of people who have a right to vote to have access to the polls.
As John knew, this precious pillar of our democracy is under attack from what is the worst voter suppression campaign in America since Jim Crow. Unleashed by the dangerous Shelby v. Holder in 2013 and 2021, State lawmakers have introduced over 400 suppression bills.
I am very honored today, Madam Speaker, that we have legislators from the State of Texas who are fighting the fight for voting rights for people in their State and in our country. They are patriotic Americans. And let us hear applause for those Texans who have done so much.
Much has been said about preclearance and thousands of discriminatory voting changes. But let us just say that in the Shelby decision, the dissent was written by Justice Ginsburg, and she noted in her dissent the Court's reasoning in Shelby was nonsensical. ``Throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.''
Sadly, the Court has since continued that assault on the ballot.
So H.R. 4, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, would be a remedy to this assault and to restore the preclearance provisions.
I have said earlier today on the rule on this vote, in 2006 we all came together in a bipartisan way to pass the Voting Rights Act. Nearly 400 votes in the House, unanimous in the Senate. We came together in the center of the Capitol, marched down the Capitol steps celebrating that.
The bill was signed by President George Bush proudly. He joined us in Selma, hosted by Congresswoman Sewell. He and President Obama joined us in Selma, and he came and spoke as the President who had signed the Voting Rights Act. As I say, more importantly, Mrs. Laura Bush was there, so their hearts were in all of this. It was bipartisan. I wish it could be today.
In our work to protect the ballot, let us recall John Lewis' final message published after his passing. ``Democracy is not a state. It is an act.'' With H.R. 4, his namesake, the Congress takes this action to build a future in which we all have equitable access to the ballot and to our democracy.
In memory of our beloved John, for whom this legislation is named, and in the interest of passing it and H.R. 1, of which he wrote the first 300 pages, let us honor our patriotic duty and make justice and equality there for everyone to vote.
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