On the recordAugust 24, 2021
Madam Speaker, we have to be clear about what is happening here. Congress passed the Voting Rights Act in 1965 to overcome shameful State resistance and barriers that prevented minorities from exercising their right. But in 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court held that continuing to require States to preclear election law changes based upon conduct from a half century ago was an unconstitutional invasion of State sovereignty. The truth is, as Jim said a moment ago, it is easier today for Americans to vote than it has ever been before in our Nation's history. The VRA worked. Thank the Lord that it did. We overcame those problems. In fact, voter registration disparities between minority and nonminority voters in States like Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Mississippi, and my home State of Louisiana, all previously covered under the old VRA provisions, are now below the national average and, get this, they are lower than Democrat-run States like New York, California, and President Biden's home State of Delaware. H.R. 4 is a radical, unprecedented Federal power grab by unaccountable bureaucrats in Washington that every conscientious American ought to oppose. I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this.





