OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Providing for Consideration of H.R. John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of Providing for Consideration of Senate Amendment to H.R. Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act; and Providing for Adoption of S. Con. Res. Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year and for Other Purposes

Floor Speech

Date: Aug. 24, 2021
Location: Washington, DC

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. SEWELL. Madam Speaker, I rise today in full support of H.R. 4, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

Madam Speaker, I have the great privilege of not only representing Birmingham, Montgomery, and my hometown of Selma, Alabama, but growing up, literally, at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, I had an opportunity time and time again to see John Lewis in action.

John would come to my home church, Brown Chapel AME Church, to remind us all that what happened on that bridge 56 years ago was that Americans, ordinary Americans, dared to stand up to this country and to make sure that it lived up to its ideals of justice and equality for all.

I am proud to say that I get to walk in the footsteps of John Lewis, but I am more proud of the fact that so many of us in this Chamber walked with him.

The best way that we can live up to the legacy of John Lewis is to remember that he fought for every American to have the equal right to vote, equal access to the ballot box.

I get that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is reserved for the most egregious State actors. But what it says is that Federal oversight is needed when States go amok.

Since the Shelby v. Holder decision, I have introduced, in four successive Congresses, the Voting Rights Advancement Act, and we renamed it the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

We must live up to John's ideals of equality and justice for all in voting rights. What we have seen in States like Georgia and Texas, and around this country, has been State legislatures making it harder for people to vote.

I just want to say that we must get into good trouble, necessary trouble. John reminded us that we must be courageous in the face of adversity and in the face of inequity. I ask for you to please vote for H.R. 4 and vote for the rule that would get it to the floor.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT


Source
arrow_upward