Jerry Nadler

I hope that Republicans will again find the inner voice that led them to support this renewal back in 2006.

There are provisions in the law not strong enough in the Voting Rights Act and in the Help America Vote Act.

We must use this opportunity to promptly craft a legislative solution that enables the Justice Department to effectively enforce the rights of minority voters within the contours of the Constitution.

I hope that members on both sides of the aisle and in both chambers of Congress will come together, and pass legislation to restore the full vitality of the VRA.

Preclearance is an essential tool in preventing this dangerous practice.

The distressing record of enforcement activity in Texas demands that reappear here in Houston to accept expert testimony on the current state of voting rights in America.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is considered by most civil rights advocates the most effective civil rights statute ever enacted by Congress.

We should leave Section 5 as is, and re-do Section 4.

We will make sure that no President becomes a monarch.

We will defend the rights of the American people to know what is going on.

We will defend the prerogatives of Congress.

I do not know what Attorney General Barr will choose. I do not know what my Republican colleagues will choose. I am certain that there is no way forward for this country that does not include a reckoning with this clear and present danger…

We can stand up to this President in defense of the country and the Constitution and the liberty we love, or we can let the moment pass us by.

He has failed to check the President's worst instincts.

It is urgent that we see the documents we have subpoenaed.

Even if Democrats and Republicans disagree on the format of this hearing, we must come together to protect the integrity of this Chamber.

The very system of government of the United States, the system of limited power, the system of not having a President as a dictator is very much at stake.

The challenge we face is that the President of the United States wants desperately to prevent Congress, a coequal branch of government, from providing any check whatsoever to even his most reckless decisions.

The President is also preventing us from obtaining information about voting rights, ACA litigation, and his cruel family separation policy, among other matters.

If all we knew about President Trump were contained in the four corners of that report, there would be good reason to question his fitness for office.

If left unchecked, this Act of obstruction will make it that much harder for us to hold the executive branch accountable for waste, fraud, and abuse.

Every member of this committee, Democrat and Republican alike, should understand the consequences when the executive branch tells us that they will simply ignore a lawful subpoena from Congress.

He is trying to blackmail the committee into not following what we think is the most effective means of eliciting the information we need and the Congress cannot permit the executive branch, we cannot permit the administration to dictate…

Thank you for your leadership and activism on this subject.

So, I want us to put it back in perspective what we are talking about here.