Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick: “I rise today in staunch and vehement opposition to H.R. 1428, the Voter Eligibility Verification Act. This bill would…”

“I rise today in staunch and vehement opposition to H.R. 1428, the Voter Eligibility Verification Act. This bill would repress the participation of legal, U.S. citizens in the process of both registering to vote and participation in elections. Furthermore, it would erode the hard-earned gains of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and I encourage my colleagues to oppose this legislation on final passage. This bill, which was not considered in either the House Judiciary Committee nor the House Oversight Committee for a markup, is being pushed onto the floor under the ``suspension of the rules'' calendar. This method does not allow Members of Congress, in support or opposition to this bill, to offer amendments or engage in more than 40 minutes of debate. H.R. 1428 would require American citizens, whom the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the Social Security Administration could not confirm to be citizens, to be selectively removed from registration lists. As a Member of the House Oversight Committee, I have first-hand knowledge of how flawed, by the INS's own admission, the INS database is.”