Hank Johnson

I thank the chairman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5720, which I hope will be only the first in a series of reforms from this body to assist our courts in maintaining the appearance of impartiality, which is so…

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically exposed the vulnerability of global supply chains, and today millions of Americans are discovering half-empty store shelves, longer delivery times, and increasingly expensive consumer goods.

Only by addressing the vulnerabilities in our system can we revitalize our global supply chain infrastructure.

Isn't it true that between 1998 and 2017, ExxonMobil Corporation spent $36 million with think tanks promoting climate denial?

You deny climate change as being connected with CO2 emissions, correct?

My friends on the other side of the aisle claim that our democracy is strengthened when close elections are subjected to forensic audit by outside entities.

How duplicitous and hypocritical is that?

My opinion is that abortion is a medical issue, not a political issue.

A small law enforcement agency being able to order massive amounts of military equipment directly from the battlefields of this country and to do it without consent of the governed is wrong, and that is what this amendment will get at. Mr…

I have an amendment at the desk. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: At the end of subtitle D of title X, insert the following: SEC. 10__. LIMITATION ON DEPARTMENT OF…

A large metropolitan law enforcement agency with the consent of the governed has the ability to purchase whatever equipment they need, but the bottom line is the civilian authorities get to decide, and the taxpayers pay for it. But there…

A pig with lipstick is still a pig, and a military-grade helicopter secured from the battlefields of Afghanistan is still a military-grade helicopter being used against the citizens. Now, if the gentleman's jurisdiction, the city council…

Rage has become the defining emotion of our times, and we witnessed rage from Trump and Members of Congress when Trump lost the election.

Rather than defund police, this amendment restores civilian authority over law enforcement. And I will submit to you that a small law enforcement agency doesn't need a military-grade tank to rescue stranded individuals due to a hurricane…

Does this hinder the Department's ability to protect minority voters before a discriminatory practice goes into effect?

section 2 litigation is a lengthy process, often taking 2--5 years to completion

Should Congress look at other indicators in addition to registration and turnout to measure the pervasiveness or persistence of race discrimination in the voting process?

I think that the approach that this Congress has been taking in the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act is an appropriate one.

I agree with what Mr. Spital just testified, and I would point to the geographic coverage formula in H.R. 4, as the House passed it in 2019, as an improvement over participation rates.

Do current conditions, specifically the deluge of State laws making it more difficult to vote since the Shelby County decision, justify the need for a new coverage formula?

To paraphrase Justice Kagan, never before has a statute been as extraordinary, required more sacrifice, and done more to advance our democracy than the Voting Rights Act.

Yet, the Supreme Court has treated this special statute worse than other law passed by Congress, first, by eviscerating section 4, and thus, castrating section 5.

The 15th, 19th, and 26th Amendments guarantee the right to vote, and if the right to vote is denied, those so deprived lose the ability to preserve all other constitutionally guaranteed rights and our country becomes a democracy in name…

The majority of the Court appears to fear that the Voting Rights Act is too, quote, 'radical,' end quote, that it will invalidate too many State voting laws.

We built this country.