Political Quotes

“I want to outline a number of concerns that I have this morning about Senator Sessions' nomination to be the next Attorney General. I will try to keep it to a short list. I have limited time this morning. But I wanted to start with the voting rights issue. In our State of Pennsylvania, we have a long history of litigation and battles about the right to vote. And when the Supreme Court decision in Shelby v. Holder was issued a couple of years ago, folks in the Senate took one, two, or three different positions. The position that I took was one of disagreement with the basic holding of Shelby v. Holder, which in my judgment gutted the Voting Rights Act's requirements that certain States and certain jurisdictions with histories of discrimination seek what is called preclearance from the Federal government before changing voting rules. That was a substantial change from the policies that had been in place for years. Since the Shelby decision, more than half of the so-called preclearance States have implemented restrictive voting laws--some as soon as the very next day after the decision was handed down. And over 800 polling places in preclearance States alone have been closed since the decision. So on this issue, it is a basic difference of opinion. I think Shelby was decided the wrong way, and Senator Sessions believes it was decided the right way. That is a fundamental disagreement.…”