So many of my constituents, and I would say all our constituents who are disabled may not have that same right.

Congress must do its part to remove obstacles to voting for the nearly 4.7 million disenfranchised citizens who have been released from incarceration and are still denied the right to vote in federal elections.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is one of the crowning achievements of their legacy.

The VRA is universally acknowledged as the most successful and most transformative piece of legislation to emerge from the Civil Rights Movement.

We should at least know when there are changes that might affect minority populations.

We need to be able to use preclearance, an efficient and effective mechanism, to address these potential voting rights violations.

the purpose of H.R. 4 is nothing less than fortifying the cornerstone of our democracy.

Congress has a critical opportunity to pass the Voting Rights Advancement Act.

We need laws that will protect voters, no matter the Administration, no matter the will of any particular Department of Justice to enforce the laws that we have.

It would certainly force that.

Sadly, since the effective neutering of the preclearance provisions, voting rights for minorities once again is under sustained assault in many parts of this country.

The bill that I have before you today, and I am honored to carry this bill, is H.R. 4, the Voting Rights Advancement Act.

It is past time for Congress to act.

The right to vote is the right that guarantees all other rights in our democracy.

It is not only imperative that Congress restore the Voting Rights Act, but that it authorizes an Act that addresses the modern needs and political climate of the nation.

With this powerful deterrent gone, a wave of restrictive voting laws went into place.

We stand on your shoulders, Ms. Amelia. We stand on your shoulders.

The voter suppression we saw in the 2018 midterm elections makes it clear just how urgent it is that we pass the Voting Rights Advancement Act and restore the full protections of the Voting Rights Act.

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.

I believe we should pass H.R. 4, the Voting Rights Advancement Act.

Congress has the ultimate and distinguished authority to enforce the anti-discrimination principle articulated in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, to protect the vote of every eligible citizen and ensure that their vote counts.

It is our job, as Members of Congress, to do what we know is right.

North Carolina... passed a sweeping voter suppression law that a Federal appeals court ultimately held to be unconstitutional, finding that it intentionally 'targeted African Americans with almost surgical precision.'

It allows for transparency in electoral processes.

Racial and ethnic discrimination is an extraordinary harm that necessitates the extraordinary remedy of preclearance.