Political Quotes

“And my colleagues, I offer the final amendment of the bill which, if adopted, will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. Instead, the bill will proceed to final passage, as amended. The purpose of my amendment is simple. It deals with one of my most valuable rights as an American citizen. It is a right which many Americans throughout the course of our history have shared blood, sweat, and tears to protect, including our colleague and my dear friend, Representative John Lewis of Georgia. He marched from Selma to Montgomery and endured billy clubs, horses, and tear gas to preserve this sacred right. The right to which I'm referring is the right to vote, as enshrined in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution and further protected in the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Help America Vote Act of 2002 and various other measures. Today, nearly five decades after the Voting Rights Act was signed into law and nearly 10 years since the Help America Vote Act, there is still an unprecedented attack on voting rights in States across this country. Yet, the underlying legislation before the House today would abolish one of the key provisions of the Help America Vote Act, the Election Assistance Commission, which was designed to avoid a repeat of the turmoil surrounding the 2000 Presidential election in Florida, where problems with absentee and military ballots played a large role and led to many of these ballots not being counted.…”