Joe Morelle: “I do agree with my distinguished colleague and friend from New York. I don't know why we are having this bill on the…”

“I do agree with my distinguished colleague and friend from New York. I don't know why we are having this bill on the floor either. Yes, we can all agree that only U.S. citizens vote in Federal elections. I know that we agree because it is the law of the land. {time} 1500 You can't register if you are not an American citizen to vote in a Federal election. It is against the law. It is also against the law to vote. I agree with him. There is no reason to be here. There is nothing to be gained. There is no problem to be solved. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Virginia (Ms. McClellan). Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, voting rights are sacrosanct and they are personal to many of us. Over 150 years ago, Black men were allowed to vote for the first time in this country. Thousands were elected to office, particularly across the South, including into this body, including one of my predecessors, John Mercer Langston, the first Black man elected to Congress from Virginia. I stand here as the first Black woman elected to Congress from Virginia. I am the great-granddaughter of a man, who after reconstruction when voter suppression laws passed across the South, had to take a literacy test and find three White men to vouch for his character to be able to vote. He was an American citizen. I stood in the well and took my oath of office on March 7, 2023, on my father's Bible.…”