VRA Passes House
By Vince Leibowitz on Jul 13, 2006 in Activism
After months of stalling led by conservative Republicans, the U.S. House of Representatives today approved the 2006 reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act 390-133.
All four amendments proposed, which civil rights leaders, Democrats and many Republicans said would dilute the Act’s power, were defeated in voice and recorded votes Thursday.
The first of these amendments, the Norwood Amendment, was defeated on a recorded vote moments ago. The amendment would have changed the formulas to determine states covered by Section 5’s pre-clearance requirements
The Ghomert Amendment was just defeated 134-288. The Gohmert Amendment would have limited the current reauthorization being debated to 10 years instead of 25 years.
The King Amendment also failed 185-238. This amendment would have eleminated language requirements from the VRA.
The final amendment to fail, the Westmorland Amendment, failed on recorded vote 118-302. The Westmorland Amendment provided for a controversial “bail out” procedure from pre-clearance requirements.
The U.S. Senate will consider its version of the VRA next Wednesday.
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