Barbara Lee Disappointed with Cancellation of Voting Rights Vote
(Washington, DC) – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) expressed disappointment after the House Republican leadership announced that it was pulling a measure that would reauthorize expiring provisions of the Voting Rights Act from floor consideration today.
“The Voting Rights Act has been a critical tool in helping fight discrimination in voting and ensuring the proper functioning of our democracy and I can’t understand why anyone would oppose this bipartisan bill,” said Lee. “I hope the Republican leadership can sort out their problems with this so that we can act quickly to pass this critical legislation.”
The bipartisan bill, the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006 (H.R. 9), reauthorizes for 25 years key provisions of the Voting Rights Act that are set to expire in 2007. It was originally put on the suspension calendar, which expedites votes for measures considered to be uncontroversial.
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