John Lewis Voting Rights Act
On Tuesday, September 19, members of the House are reintroducing the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act — critically important legislation that would restore and strengthen the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This bill is needed now more than ever, so join us in uplifting its reintroduction and amplifying your support.
Topline Talking Points
- The civil rights and voting rights communities applaud the introduction of the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
- For democracy to work for all of us, it must include us all, no matter our color, party, or zip code.The VRAA will restore and strengthen the Voting Rights Act, repairing damage done by the Supreme Court and modernizing the most successful civil rights law in history.
- The Voting Rights Advancement Act reaffirms our commitment to voter equality and voter access to the ballot box. The VRAA seeks to ensure that jurisdictions with a recent history of voting rights violations are required to obtain preclearance for changes to voting practices and procedures.
- The Voting Rights Advancement Act provides the necessary tools to address discriminatory voting practices and protects all Americans’ access to the ballot box.
This bill is needed now more than ever before. A decade after the Supreme Court gutted the “preclearance” protection in Shelby County, at least 29 states have passed 94 laws that make it harder to vote, with the burden falling hardest on [Black, Latino, Asian, Native] voters and other voters of color.
- Eleven of those states were covered, either fully or in part, by the VRA’s preclearance protection – meaning some of the most restrictive laws in nearly a third of states that have passed laws making it harder to vote may have been blocked previously, had the full protections of the VRA been in place.
- Three of those restrictive laws preclearance would have blocked were monster voter suppression laws. Instead, these laws passed and are currently on the books in Georgia, Florida, Texas, making it considerably harder for people of color to vote.
- The racial turnout gap is growing in many places. Alabama, Georgia, and Texas are among the states that have seen large increases. The gap has grown by at least 9% in five of the six states originally covered by preclearance since Shelby County. The Washington Post found that the white-Black turnout gap rose to 11% in 2022, the largest it has been since at least 2000.
Furthermore, the Supreme Court’s decision in Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee damaged another key provision in the Voting Rights Act — Section 2. In this decision, the Court stacked the deck in favor of discriminating states by rewriting Section 2 to make it harder to win in court against voter restrictions. Since the 2020 election alone, we have seen a rash of discriminatory anti-voter bills across the country, particularly in states that were previously covered by preclearance and in places where voters of color turned out to vote in significant numbers.
- At the core of the crisis facing our democracy is the denial and dilution of the fundamental right to vote, especially for [Black, Latino, Asian, Native] voters and other voters of color. For nearly 50 years, the VRA was an unparalleled tool for combatting that denial; the VRAA can help renew its protections and advance a multiracial, inclusive democracy, and give us back the power to determine the future of our communities and families.
- This year’s introduction of legislation to restore the VRA coincides with a troubling milestone – the 10-year anniversary of the Shelby County decision that weakened the law in the first place.
- The Voting Rights Act has a long history of bipartisan support. It is the obligation of this generation of lawmakers to respond to the call of the majority of Americans who support new legislation to protect the vote.
- Congress must once again use the power enshrined in the Constitution, and entrusted to this body, to ensure the franchise for all citizens and create a 21st century democracy that is representative of, and responsive to, our increasingly diverse nation. It is the obligation of this Congress to guard our democracy—and to continue the work of perfecting our union by protecting the right to vote.
- We urge Members of Congress to fulfill their obligations to protect the freedom to vote by enacting legislation that will fully restore and strengthen the VRA.
Examples
Recent would have blocked discriminatory practices from ever being implemented. Compiled by the ACLU.
Messaging Toplines from the DPCC
Extreme MAGA Republicans Plotting Government Shutdown
- Extreme MAGA Republicans have done nothing to make life better or more affordable for everyday Americans. Now they are wasting time with political stunts instead of working with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown that would hurt working families and endanger our national security.
- House Republicans are on an island by themselves. They are the only people in Washington who are pushing harsh cuts to investments that families count on – like health care, child care, education, food assistance, and public safety. Even Senate Republicans oppose House Republicans’ radical plans.
- From banning abortion nationwide to impeaching the President, MAGA Republicans are making different extreme demands every day and plotting a government shutdown unless they can inflict this radical agenda on the American people.
- An extreme MAGA Republican shutdown makes America weaker and less safe: interrupting critical government services, hurting small businesses, and even forcing our troops to serve without pay.
MAGA Republicans are willing to send us into a shutdown in order to raise costs for everyday Americans and protect the wealthy and corporations
Core pillars of the MAGAnomics Budget proposal:
- Slash Taxes for the Wealthy and Big Corporations
- Cut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Other Vital Programs
- Raise Costs for Hardworking Families
- Even as House Republicans continue pushing MAGAnomics, there’s a reason they’ve kept quiet about their actual budget: it is overwhelmingly unpopular with broad cross-sections of the American people.
Graphics on MAGA Republicans + Bidenomics and Jobs
Extreme MAGA Republicans Pursuing Partisan Impeachment
- President Biden is an honorable man and, after nine months of playing politics with their “investigation,” extreme MAGA Republicans haven’t found a shred of evidence that he’s done anything wrong. But extreme MAGA Republicans are moving forward with impeachment anyway.
- House Republicans, even those who claim to be “moderates,” are doing the bidding of former President Donald Trump and his allies like Marjorie Taylor Greene as petty, partisan revenge on Trump’s behalf.
- Because many Republicans have acknowledged they have no evidence to begin impeachment, Speaker McCarthy won’t let the House vote on launching an inquiry – even though he previously said blocking such a vote is “an abuse of power.”
- Extreme MAGA Republicans have done nothing to make life better or more affordable for everyday Americans. Their impeachment sham is an attempt to distract the American people from this track record of failure.
Democrats Put People Over Politics
- While extreme MAGA Republicans threaten to shut down our government and launch a partisan impeachment, Democrats are putting People Over Politics to deliver for everyday Americans.
- Democrats are lowering costs for working families. For the first time ever, we are forcing Big Pharma to negotiate lower drug prices. We capped the price of insulin for seniors at $35 and lowered out-of-pocket costs for health care. Instead of giving special interests more tax breaks, we’re fighting to stop big corporations from ripping off everyday Americans.
- Democrats are growing the middle class. We are investing in America by fixing our roads and bridges, bringing clean water and high-speed internet to more communities, and strengthening advanced manufacturing and clean energy. Democratic policies have created more than 13.5 million jobs since President Biden took office.
- Democrats are working to make our communities safer and defend our freedoms. We are committed to building on the gun safety legislation we passed last year to protect America’s kids. And we continue to fight for reproductive freedom and LGBTQ+ rights.
Supreme Court Justice Term Limit Measure
- TERM Act establishes terms of 18 years in regular active service for Supreme Court justices, after which justices who retain the office will assume senior status.
- SCOTUS is facing a legitimacy crisis & TERM Act can restore balance.
- 5 out of 6 justices on the bench were appointed by presidents who lost the popular vote, and they are now racing to impose their out-of-touch agenda on the American people, who do not want it.
- Term limits are a necessary step toward reining this radical, unrestrained majority on the court.
- Regularizing appointments every 2 years will ensure a SCOTUS that is more representative of the nation, reflecting the choices of recently elected Presidents & Senators.
- Term limits for justices are an essential tool to restoring a constitutional balance to the three branches of the federal government.
- 67% of Americans want term limits for SCOTUS justices. The Supreme Court TERM Act does just that.
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