Zoe Lofgren: “I just want to say how much I appreciate the amendment offered by Mr. Brown. It improves the bill by making sure that…”

“I just want to say how much I appreciate the amendment offered by Mr. Brown. It improves the bill by making sure that voters are notified, not just 7 days before the poll is moved, but before early voting begins, maximizing the opportunity to actually get to the poll. Many Americans, right now, have a single day to vote, and if you are a working person, you may not even have time off, you may not even be able to get to the polling place. That is what H.R. 1 is all about. And just getting to the federalism issue. Article I, section 4 explicitly says, ``Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations'' about Federal elections. That is what we are doing here. We need to do more because there are jurisdictions in our country that are specifically trying to prevent people from voting based on race. That is why we have got the Voting Rights Act that is going to be coming later. We are compiling the evidentiary record for the Voting Rights Act right now. But this bill just relates to Federal elections which we have jurisdiction to do. We need to make sure that the efforts to keep people from exercising their right to vote in Federal elections are defeated. That is what H.R. 1 is about. That is what Mr. Brown's amendment is about, and I am grateful to him for offering it.”