Maybe a few more folks on this side. Come on okay the balance but balance if you need it, I'm so funny. it was great, but I was cold, so I put them to good morning everyone as you have probably observed this is really a happy day for all of us but for our country, especially so many people work so hard to make this possible over the you know. A couple of hundred years as a matter of fact. So that makes this an historic day for the Congress and for the country as we pass H R four, the Voting Rights Advancement Act. Thank you complimentary for your tremendous leadership. You're relentless your brilliance and bring us all together to get this done with Liberty and Justice for all. I wanna also salute Congresswoman Marsha Fudge holding hearings from from Alabama to Arizona. That scope is not alphabetical the geography. On voting rights, I guess we're here with our our hero, John Lewis and so many others in both the grassroots level and all of you at the grassroots level understand our inside maneuvering is essential to passing legislation, but it could never happen without the outside mobilization that you provide both by the age of of garnering support, but also being an intellectual resource to us. We go forward our Democratic majority came to Congress with an urgent promise to secure the sacred right to vote. It was part of HR one the first bill that we passed in the Congress because of some resistance on the part of some to reducing the role of money in politics and we're still working on that we spend at HR for to have its own. Vote on the floor of the House, the action is urgently needed to combat the brazen voter suppression campaign that is spreading across America since Shelby versus holder decision 20 -. Three States have enacted voter suppression laws, denying millions of right to vote. We must we must restore the strength is voting right there nearly 50 - five years ago. Speaking of the experience of time President Johnson still on the House floor George passage of the voting right there he Nation in history of the world to be founded with a purpose, all men are created equal to protect that promise of equality. today we will pass HR four. We call upon Senator McConnell tomato. They bring the bill to the floor denying a bill. A vote on this bill would be denied millions of Americans Justice and now it is my great honor to yield the floor to the gentlewoman from Alabama has made this part of her life's work. Congress cemetery so thank you so much. Today is incredibly personal and special to me and my district Alabama's seventh Congressional district that includes the cities of Birmingham, Montgomery and my hometown of Selma, Alabama. You see voting is very personal for me, not only because I represent America Civil Rights district, but because it was on the streets of my hometown that foot soldiers like our incredible colleague John Lewis shed their blood on the Edmond Pettis Bridge so that all Americans regardless of race could vote. Today, the House will finally pass HR four the Voting Rights Advancement Act to protect their legacy and restore the full protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1960. - five I've introduced this bill for the past three Congresses and I know you have on the Senate side too. Senator Leahy, but it really has been a group effort for the past six years. I've been honored to have the support and input from so many wonderful stakeholders the Double ACP Legal Defense Fund, the Lawyers Committee, AFL-CIO Brennan Center for Justice, Maldonado, and just to name a few without this and these wonderful supporters. This bill would not be here today. The Supreme Court yes. The Supreme Court Shelby versus Holder decision Gabe States with a proven history of voter discrimination free reign to reengage in suppressive voting processes. My state of Alabama home to Shelby County has implemented a more restrictive voter ID law and has the audacity to close nearly a dozen polling stations as well as DMV S. Since that decision. Alabama isn't alone more than two dozen States have enacted strict voter ID laws. 2013 State legislatures have worked to Jerry Mann districts purge voter rolls and reduce early voting today as we pass HR four. We protect the legacy of the foot soldiers of the voting rights movement like our wonderful Congressman John Lewis Ordinary Patriotic Americans who achieved extraordinary social change in the name of Justice to invoke the words of A hundred -year-old Hundred and three -year old Amelia avoid Boynton Robinson, who is also bludgeoned on that bridge in 1960, - five and who was my special 15 for the state of the Union, as we celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery March, she was often approached by so many people at a hundred and three and they would always say the same thing we stand on your shoulders. We stand on your shoulders and she and her nimble words would often say get off my shoulders. Do your own work is what she would say. so on this wonderful day as we pass HR four, I want to invoke her words and say miss Amelia. we're doing our own. We're passing HR four and we're making sure that voter equality is alive and well in America today. I liked it. I know that you are about to bring on our champion in the Senate, Senator Lee but with your permission Center, we're so honored you're here. We wanna keep you here longer. I just didn't wanna share their of the judiciary Committee is managing the bill on the floor. so we're gonna yell too so I can get back. Thank you very much. The right to vote essential to democracy and is foundational to the rule of law, but it is under constant threat in jurisdictions across the country today when the Supreme Court gutted the preclearance requirements of Section five of the Voting Rights Act, it dismantled the Central enforcement tool that critical statute. What we have seen since that disastrous decision is a wave of voter suppression that only reinforces the need for restoring a section five the Supreme Court. At the formula for determining which jurisdictions are covered by the preclearance requirements had not been sufficiently justified by current conditions, but it also invited Congress to update the formula and they charge for the bill. We're considering today does exactly that the bill not only is responsive to current conditions, but it will also also automatically update as conditions change. I wanna thank the speak of her leadership in bringing this bill to the floor as well as Congresswoman. For her for crafting the legislation as we documented exhaustively in the judiciary and House administration committees, there is continuing and pervasive discrimination in voting across the country that is undermining the fundamental the fundamental right to vote for millions of Americans. It is essential that we pass HR for today that would be enacted into law quickly so that we can protect the sacred right for all Americans. Thank you. Thank you. Pretty exciting that the debate is happening on the floor now and the House of Representatives and so we're referred pleased to welcome to the House side of the capital. the distinguished gentleman from Vermont. Senator Leahy Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Speaker and like all Vermonters. I'm very proud of you and what you're doing. Thank you and Congressman Lewis was in Vermont recently. I've never seen anybody get the reception that John. It was a wonderful reception, one overflowing crowd after another as he spoke of what he went through and what we in Vermont have taken for granted on voting. I remember going as a child was four or five years old, my parents when they go to vote and just you just assumed everybody can vote, but that's not happening and Madam Speaker. you will pass this bill today as a Senate Bill lead author. I would call on leader McConnell bring the bill up. Do what the House has done show the leadership. Let us vote on it in the Senate and then see if anybody would vote. No, it would pass the Senate. Yes, let's pass it. Let's do our job. Let's respect everybody. You know 50 - four years after the passage of the voting rights It should be left to the history books, but it's alive and well today. Maybe the water can is the clubs to police dogs. baby been replaced, but they're replaced by bogus ID requirements. The purging of photo Rose changing a voter places. The tactics may have evolved, but the goal don't forget to go state sponsored systematic disenfranchisement. It remains the same so this ledge. He would undo the damage done by the Shelby County decision and empower our citizens all the to participate in our democracy. This is not a partisan thing. This is America. This is what my parents taught me as a child you must vote. If anybody thinks this person they need a civics lesson. You know, America is the governor who possess the power. they need not grabs something is already theirs, so we should. Let the language in the Senate legislative graveyard. It's already supported the Senate by 40 - Six Democrats bring it to a vote. see if anybody would actually stand up and vote. No, if it is allowed to come to a vote, it will pass overwhelmingly. let us show the world that we not only talk about democracy Believe in democracy, so I appreciate all of you in doing this and thank you for giving me a visa to come over to the House. Those cases are usually reserved for former members of the House cuz we really just can't stop them anyway. So this is a very special occasion that we have, you said earlier. and now we're here in Moscow. 15 times. I walked across the Edmond Pettis Bridge most of those times holding John Lewis' hand John Thank you. Thank you. The steps you took the beatings you've received the courage. you showed continues to illuminate our path today. Thank you. John Lewis HR Four the people whether you spell it B F O U R. Are you spell it F O R. This bill is for the people. This is a. Overdue legislative response to the challenges confronting our country by the Supreme Court in 2013, Justice Ginsburg pointed out in her dissent in Shelby versus holder that and I quote throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you're not getting wet. Think of that analogy Indeed, as soon as that decision was released, we began to see in state after state a torrent of voter suppression such as photo ID laws in Texas, Alabama, North Carolina, Arkansas, North Dakota, as well as a range of new restrictions on voting and registration in the state's previously covered by pre-clearance. I am. Do as majority leader, bring this bill to the floor. I'm proud to be a co-sponsor with all of my colleagues here. I'm proud to work with the Speaker, Pelosi and making sure that we address this issue, which is Senator Lee, he said, is for America for our principles for the essence of democracy is that people vote and have their vote counted put an end to six years of renewed and rampant voter suppression discrimination in this. Ranch management I urge a senator he did as Speaker Pelosi did as all of us urged take up this bill. Reagan said tear down this Wall. Tear down this Wall of discrimination tear down this Wall a precluding people from registering tear down the Wall of creating impediments to voting and encourage voting. Felicity facilitate voting give Americans not only the right, but the ease and privilege of making sure their vote counts and now let me. A colleague that I have known for over half a century who himself like John Lewis deeply involved in the civil rights movement and historic figure in his own right, Jim Clyburn, the Democratic Whip of the Congress of the United States, Jim. Thank you very much. Thank you very much mister Lee Madam Speaker my colleagues in the House and all of our great stakeholders and I don't know what they call these people here. I got some other names called give a thank you and thank you all so much. I am I'm standing here thinking back to my young days. In 1960, - six and my wife and I battled the From Charleston, South Carolina going up to the little town of King Street that I proudly represent in this Congress today, we went there to hear Martin Luther King Junior give one of his first speeches after the passage of the 1960 - five, but it was a very rainy day. We're out in a cow It was a cow pasture. I saw evidence of it being a cop pastor, but we are there to hear Martin Luther King Junior exalt March to the ballot boxes we in South Carolina and not done much marching to ballot boxes. I still remember my mother and father. Young parents young citizens what they encountered trying to get the right to vote. We got it in 1960, - Five Rights act and we have demonstrated it time and Along the way, irrespective of the efforts of so many people roads were not always made straight as King exalted that they they have been a lot of crooks in the roads one chain about six years ago and when the Supreme Court took a look at the 1960 - five Voting Rights Act and decided that For whatever reasons outdated and needed to be made current, we took Justice Roberts words to hard, though we did not agree that it was outdated. We decided to do what we always do and that is follow the law of the Supreme Court of the United States and thanks to the Speaker. We had eight hearings by Judiciary Committee, nine by special Committee to leader of the Speaker, created headed by Marsha Fudge. They went around the country listening to people. And this bill is the result of those 17 hearings and all the people here chimed in with their experiences and what they have developed and it's all wrapped into one piece of legislation that would be put on the floor in a few minutes and we're gonna pass it and so I wanna say. To Justice, Chief Justice Roberts and the Supreme Court, we listen, we heard and we have acted in keeping with your instructions and we call upon every member of the House, Democrat and Republican. Vote Today The past has bill every member of the Senate, The pastor's bill and the President of the United States decided into law, and with that, I'm pleased to yield to my longtime friend who I met in 1960. Never get the weekend October the thirteenth fourteenth fifteenth 1960. The weekend before Martin Luther King Junior Monster Jam for the first time John and I were there together urgent King to go to jail to show us the way a great competitor in a real patriot. John Lewis. Madam Speaker Thank you so much for your leadership for your vision. Thank you for never ever giving up for keeping the faith and for keeping your eyes on the prize. Jim Clyburn my friend my brother. It's ongoing struggle to redeem the Soul of America. Not there yet and the forces in America today trying to take us back to another time and another place. But with the passage of this bill with Sam, we're not going back. We're going forward. The only thing I I did. I tried to do a few other people. Is to get the right to vote. We gave a little blood on that bridge to help redeem the Soul of America. Yes. Struggle is an ongoing struggle. We can never give up. We can never lose hope. We're going to pass it here. Yes today we gonna do it. Madam Speaker very do it. We're gonna do it and we gonna send it to the Senate. Yes, we must do it. The vote is the most powerful non-violent instrument or tool we have in a Democratic society and people should be able to use it all of our citizens. So thank you very much. Yes. Thank you very much Madam Speaker Representative Sewell congratulations and thank you I can say with with certainty that I would not be standing here and being a member of the House of Representatives. If it hadn't been for the voting Rights Act, I can say it with certainty. that today's vote when we pass H R four, There's a reaffirmation of our democracy, A reaffirmation of the fact that all of us. Regardless of citizens have the right to participate in this democracy through voting and that this democracy is inclusive and not selective. That's what the boat is about today. It's about acknowledging our history, but it's also about looking forward as Representative Lewis said. I come from a state that was preclearance, Arizona and after 2013 and the the Supreme Court decision on Shelby. the flood gates of it across the country in terms of depression i never sooner where we second two taxes ah in terms of the closure a public places across the state that affected display personally people of colour and indigenous people not stay Voting ID Requirement voter roll purchase the moving of sites for one from one election to another and the list goes on and those level that level of suppression is is what we would HRfour addresses. it provides tools to protect the vote. It provides transparency for people to be able to fight these acts of suppression and it provides accountability. That's. Voting is about and and we should never be afraid a full and healthy participation in this democracy of us by people by the people. That's what keeps us healthy to do it to be to continue. a pattern of denial of some people's right to vote is to continue a pattern of further destroying and undercutting this great democracy of ours. I'm proud and humbled to be here with. Leadership today and to extend not only to the people that have had to endure the suppression but to our country as well that this vote today. A departure from what has happened in the recent past. This is a vote to reaffirm our democracy and the right to reform the right to vote regardless of every citizen in this country. Thank you very much. Good morning, I'm Vinita Gupta, President and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of more than 220 organizations working toward an America as good as its ideals, the many representing the many organizations that are here today that have toiled for years and decades to use every tool and tactic that we have to protect the right to vote six years ago when the Supreme Court ruled in Shelby County versus holder, it got it the pretty clear. Provision of the Voting Rights Act that for decades had blocked racially discriminatory voting practices, and because of that decision voter suppression has since police rated nationwide today. Our coalition is honored to support the Voting Rights Advancement Act, which repairs the devastating damage done by Shelby County Modernizes, the Voting Rights Act and restores the necessary tools to prevent voter discrimination. We thank Congresswoman Sewell, the House Judiciary Committee, the House Administration Committee and Congressman Fudge and the Democratic leader. For establishing a strong strong evidentiary record and shepherding this critical legislation through the House of Representatives and we thank Congressman Lewis, who has shown us every day with his courage. Why any of us are here standing to fight for the very democracy that is most at stake for this nation. We have to ensure that every eligible voter can participate in the electoral process because our vote is our voice. HR. Four has been a top priority for the civil rights community because voting is derivative. Of every other right during the Civil Rights Movement, Congressman Lewis and other brave Americans gave their blood some even their lives for the right to vote. We cannot allow their legacy and the protections that they fought for to unravel. our democracy depends on it and we urge the House and then the Senate to restore the voting Rights Act. The civil rights community will not rest until HR four becomes law. Thank you and now I'll pass it to our sponsor Legislature. Representing the Wall, so I just wanna say in closing a very big, thank you to our leader Speaker Pelosi and also the leadership I I know that our North star has been John Lewis but I wanna say to whip Clyburn. Thank you so much for the honor of working with you every day. I know so many of us walk the halls of Congress because of this legislation and to say thank you. John doesn't seem adequate but I want you to know. That we understand the legacy that has been passed on to us. We know we must continue to do our work and we will do our work and make sure that HR four not only passes the House of Representatives, but it also passes the Senate and assigned into law. Thank you all let's keep up the fight. Let's know that it's a fight worthy of having. thank you. Thank you.