Nearly 100 Religious Leaders Petition Senate: Support VRA without Amendments
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Religious leaders from across America today sent a letter encouraging each member of the Senate Judiciary Committee to ensure that the bipartisan Voting Rights Act moves quickly through the Senate and is passed without amendment.
Last week, the US House of Representatives voted overwhelming (390-33) to pass The Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006 without amendment – defeating all four of the amendments that would have greatly weakened the Act’s protections. Now the Senate must work quickly to pass the Act.
Signatories on the letter include local clergy from states that are protected by key provisions of the Voting Rights Act, including South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Arizona, Florida, Mississippi, Texas, California and Michigan.
The faith community has been actively supporting Voting Rights Act renewal for months by lobbying Congress directly and waging constituency advocacy campaigns. Today, religious leaders from across the faith spectrum express support with a unified voice for reauthorization of this critical legislation -- without amendment and without delay.
The text of the letter sent to each member of the Senate Judiciary Committee follows:
Nearly 100 American Religious Leaders to U.S. Senate: The Right to Vote Is a Moral Issue
Support Voting Rights Act Reauthorization Act (S. 2703), Oppose All Amendments
July 19, 2006
Dear Senator:
We write to you as leaders of America's religious community and citizens of this great democracy. Our faith traditions teach us that every person is created in God's image and that we are all part of God's family. Therefore we pray and strive for a nation that seeks justice and the common good for all of its citizens.
We write to vigorously support S. 2703, the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006 (VRARA). Because S. 2703 is critical to ensuring the continued protection of the right to vote for all Americans, we urge you to ensure that S. 2703 moves quickly through the Senate and is passed without amendment.
Although our country has come a long way since the Voting Rights Act (VRA) was signed into law in 1965, the struggle for equality is not over. Throughout the 109th Congress, during oversight and legislative hearings, the House Judiciary Subcommittee and Senate Judiciary Committee have found significant evidence that barriers to equal minority voter participation remain.
The Voting Rights Act (VRA) is considered by many to be our nation’s most effective civil rights law. Congress enacted the VRA in direct response to evidence of significant and pervasive discrimination taking place across the country, including the use of literacy tests, poll taxes, intimidation, threats, and violence. By outlawing the tests and devices that prevented minorities from voting, the VRA put teeth into the 15th Amendment’s guarantee that no citizen can be denied the right to vote because of the color of his or her skin.
The VRA was initially passed in 1965 and has been renewed four times by bipartisan majorities in the U.S. House, and signed into law by both Republican and Democratic presidents. In the 41 years since its initial passage, the VRA has enfranchised millions of racial, ethnic, and language minority citizens by eliminating discriminatory practices and removing other barriers to their political participation. In doing so, the VRA has empowered minority voters and has helped to desegregate legislative bodies at all levels of government.
The House has now passed its version of the bicameral VRARA (H.R. 9), and if the bill is to be signed into law this year, the Senate must now act. By moving quickly to pass S. 2703 without amendment, the Senate can ensure that the Voting Rights Act continues to work effectively to combat discrimination and that the gains that have been achieved for minority voters are not rolled back. We urge you to support this critical civil rights legislation.
Just as faith leaders joined together decades ago to speak out in support of civil rights, so now we are united in calling upon our government to continue to support the struggle for freedom and dignity for all Americans.
CONTACT: Jessica Watson at press@faithinpubliclife.orgpress@faithinpubliclife.org or 202-544-7921
