Jim Sensenbrenner: “this is a poison pill amendment. If this amendment is adopted, the supporters of this legislation will withdraw their…”

“this is a poison pill amendment. If this amendment is adopted, the supporters of this legislation will withdraw their support, and the extension to the Voting Rights Act would be defeated. So from a practical standpoint, the amendment should be opposed; but on a substantive standpoint, it should be opposed as well. A recent survey of 1,000 registered voters was conducted on the Voting Rights Act's provision requiring bilingual ballots for taxpaying legal citizens under certain circumstances. Let me make this clear. The amendments in the Voting Rights Act have nothing to do with illegal immigrants voting. Illegal immigrants are not eligible to vote. We are dealing with people who are United States citizens. And United States citizens ought to have their right to vote protected even if they are not proficient in English. When those surveyed were asked specifically whether they supported or opposed the renewal of the Voting Rights Act with bilingual ballot provisions, 70 percent of the registered voters supported or strongly supported a renewal bill that contained the bilingual ballot provisions for taxpaying legal citizens. I ask the membership of the House to stand on the side of those 77 percent, an overwhelming majority.…”