Nydia M. Velazquez: “the road to the ballot box for women and minorities has never been easy. Now, Republicans want to begin a new and tragic…”

“the road to the ballot box for women and minorities has never been easy. Now, Republicans want to begin a new and tragic chapter in our country's voting rights history. Mr. Speaker, I was born in this country. As a Puerto Rican, I am just as American as anyone from Massachusetts or Virginia. Yet, the Horn bill could easily deny me the right to vote. The simple fact is that H.R. 1428 gives election officials too much power to rely on INS data to bar people from voting. As natural born citizens, millions of Puerto Ricans with no record at INS could unfairly be stopped at the ballot box. This is wrong, pure and simple. Mr. Speaker, I say to my colleagues that the only purpose for this hostile legislation is to torment citizens. If we silent the voices of any Americans, we destroy our democracy. I urge my colleagues to defeat this voter suppression bill.”