Terri Sewell

The right to vote, as all of us know, is an American democracy cornerstone.

Voting is a fundamental civil right, and it should not be infringed upon no matter what your race or ZIP Code is.

There are currently right now in D.C. 712,000 residents of D.C. that do not have full voting representation in Congress.

This is why I reintroduced the John Robert Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act in September, because it would restore the full protections of the Voting Rights Act.

Generations of Americans, many of whom are from my hometown of Selma, Alabama, march, fought, bled, and some even died for the equal right of all Americans to vote.

The decision that they make for their communities are often overridden by the interests of those who do not live in the District of Columbia, i.e., us in Congress.

D.C. residents are American citizens. I think all of us would agree on that.

The brave foot soldiers that day were advocating for the fundamental constitutional right of access to the ballot box and freedom of speech.

We cannot allow anti-Semitism or Islamophobic or any form of hate to grow anywhere, but especially here in America.

So, when I think about the face of welfare or the face of SNAP or the face of CTC, it is a child's face that I see, not some, you know, welfare queen.

I have to tell you I am proud of the fact that during the pandemic--that the House Democrats decided to make fully refundable the Child Tax Credit.

I represent Alabama's Black Belt, a very proud product of Alabama's rural Black Belt. But our rate of poverty is much higher than the rate in Alabama writ large.

I really would hope that this committee would try to find some solutions to deal with the reality of poverty that is in America.

Our military is the best in the world, and it will stay that way as long as we have the best players on the field.

To assume our students cannot handle this information is truly an insult to their intelligence and ours.

Diversity is truly America's strength. It is something that we should take seriously and not politicize or weaponize.

Washington, D.C., has the right to political self-determination.

Mr. Chairman, this amendment strikes in its entirety subtitle D of the bill, through which Republicans would impose their wish list of restrictive voting policies upon the District of Columbia.

The First and the 14th Amendment of the Constitution protects the fundamental right to vote, including the right of all Americans to vote safely and accessibly.

This amendment would modify the ACE Act's ban on the use of Federal funds for elections in States that permit community ballot collection by creating an exception for voters with disabilities.

I support Ranking Member Morelle on setting up such a commission and naming it after Frederick Douglass.

I think that the reason why we had higher voter participation in Georgia was not because of the reforms of 202 but rather in spite of reforms of 202.

We must end this madness. The fact that this particular bill would allow people to question eligibility and do so indiscriminately is a problem.

This amendment would ensure that no person other than a State or local election official is able to challenge an individual's eligibility to register to vote unless that challenge is supported by a personal knowledge.

Nobody should have to wait in line for hours to exercise that fundamental, constitutional right to vote.