Voting Rights Act Reauthorization Passes House, Civil Rights Leaders Look to Senate Vote
Feature Story by Tyler Lewis - 7/13/2006
After three weeks of GOP meddling, one of the most important civil rights laws enacted during the civil rights movement of the 1960s is a step closer to reauthorization.Civil rights leaders hailed the House passage of the bill to reauthorize provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) that were set to expire in August of 2007. The bill, "The Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006," was passed by a vote of 390-33.
"Today's House vote is an important step on the road to protecting voting rights for all Americans because despite progress made during the last four decades in the registration of, and voting by, minorities, barriers remain," said Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR). "The VRA protects the right of every American citizen to vote and ensures that that vote counts."
Civil rights groups are particularly happy that the HR. 9 passed without amendment. Four amendments that would have gutted the VRA, including one to reauthorize the provisions for 10 years and one that would gut the language assistance provisions, were all defeated overwhelmingly.
The momentum the bill built since its May 2 bipartisan, bicameral introduction and its 33-1 House Judiciary Committee vote on May 10 was derailed on June 21 by a small group of House Republicans, led by Lynn Westmoreland, R.Ga. They claimed that the VRA is punitive.
On June 28, Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fl., proposed an amendment that would forbid the Department of Justice from enforcing the language assistance provisions of the VRA, effectively gutting the law. After intense debate on the floor, which included eloquent and passionate speeches in opposition to the amendment by Rep. Mike Honda, D. Calif., and civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis, D. Ga., the amendment was defeated by a vote of 254-167.
The civil rights community was incensed at the hijacking of a law that changed the face of American politics. LCCR's Henderson noted that many of the House Republican troublemakers represented places with "the most egregious records of discrimination in voting."
For African Americans, the importance and relevance of the VRA is as timely as ever, in the wake of the hotly contested presidential races of 2000 and 2004. "The elections of 2000 and 2004 remind us that VRA violations remain a persistent and ugly feature of our political landscape," said Henderson.
Latinos are the fastest growing ethnic group in the nation.. Civil rights leaders insist that as the nation's demographics continue to change, the VRA will continue to be necessary in guaranteeing Latino citizens their right to vote. And while many debates about minorities exclude Asian Americans, they remain a growing population in some of the nation's biggest, most diverse cities.
"I know about the importance of voting," said Juan Andrade, of the Comité Cesar Chávez, a community-based project of SIREN, Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network. "There are many people in my community who still cannot vote; therefore, when I vote, I vote for not only myself but my entire community."
The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote the bill out of committee by July 20. Civil rights groups are pushing hard for a vote in the Senate, so that President Bush can sign and enact the bill by the end of this Congress.
LCCR Deputy Director Nancy Zirkin said, "This country has taken the lead in spreading democracy abroad and we cannot do less to maintain its vitality here at home. That is why it is critical that the Senate ... provide for full debate and present the reauthorizing legislation to the full Senate for a vote so it can be on the President's desk for signing by early August."
The expiring provisions include: Section 5, the federal preclearance provision; Section 203, which requires certain jurisdictions to provide language assistance to citizens who do not speak English fluently; and Sections 6-9, which authorize the Department of Justice to send federal examiners and observers to monitor elections.
Over the last 40 years, the VRA has been renewed four times by bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate and signed into law by both Republican and Democratic presidents.
