Chris Dodd: “I urge colleagues to think twice about this. It is the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that we are talking about. We are…”

“I urge colleagues to think twice about this. It is the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that we are talking about. We are talking about amending this act permanently and possibly excluding major ethnic groups in this country permanently. Please. This issue requires more thought than it can be given here. This is not the way to go about changing one of the most important laws ever enacted in our great country. We should not in effect tell our colleagues that they have 15 minutes to decide on whether or not potentially millions of Haitians, Africans, Asians, Hispanics, and Europeans would be permanently excluded from key protections of the Voting Rights Act when we have 3 more years to make that decision. To do this on an amendment to a gun manufacturer bill is stunning to me. Why would we take something as critical and important as the Voting Rights Act and throw it on the table without further consideration and thought? I urge my colleagues in the time they have to please talk to the majority leader and see if we can't pull this back by unanimous consent and let those of us who spend time on these issues sit and work on this. This is no way to be dealing with millions of people in our country who deserve the right to vote and to be protected properly under language minority and preclearance provisions. I make that plea to my colleagues. I yield the floor.”