Saxby Chambliss: “I rise in support of a bill to extend the expiring provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. While I support this bill…”

“I rise in support of a bill to extend the expiring provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. While I support this bill, I continue to have some serious concerns with several aspects of it, not the least of which is the extension for an extraordinary 25 years. The act, originally passed in 1965, was unquestionably needed to bring the promise of the Constitution to many of our citizens who had been shut out of our national political process. The original act, a remedial measure to deal with past discrimination, provided that certain provisions would sunset after 5 years. I have grave concerns that a 25-year extension may well, by itself, doom the act in a future constitutional challenge, given the Supreme Court's jurisprudence concerning the need for narrowly tailored remedial measures to deal with past discrimination. Members of the House raised legitimate concerns last week and advanced positive amendments which I believe would have strengthened this bill and updated it to reflect the reality of profoundly improved race relations which exist today in my home State of Georgia. Let me talk about the positive progress. Today, a higher percentage of Black citizens in Georgia are registered to vote than are White citizens: 66 percent compared to 59 percent. Today, a higher percentage of Black citizens in Georgia turn out the vote than do White citizens: 51 percent compared to 48 percent.…”