[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 50 (Wednesday, March 17, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S1578]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       FOR THE PEOPLE ACT OF 2021

  Mr. SCHUMER. Now on S. 1, democracy reform, today Senate Democrats 
are introducing the No. 1 bill of the 117th Congress, S. 1, to stand up 
to voter suppression, end dark money in politics, and reinvigorate 
American democracy in the 21st century.
  Make no mistake, democracy reform must be a top priority of this 
Congress, and I will put S. 1, the For the People Act, on the floor of 
the Senate.
  For too long, we have let really important parts of our democracy 
wither. Unlimited dark money flows into campaigns. Special interests 
have way too much influence in Washington. And worst of all, there is a 
concerted, nationwide effort to limit the right of American citizens, 
particularly people of color, to vote.
  Throughout America's history, we have seen a continuous cycle of 
expansions in our democracy being met all too often by vehement 
backlash from those who wish to maintain an exclusionary status quo.
  Earlier this year, we witnessed only the latest example in the form 
of a violent insurrection right here in this Chamber, right here in 
this Capitol, an attack fueled by the insidious lies of the former 
President aimed at overturning the results of a free and fair election.
  In the wake of the November election, one of the safest and most 
secure in American history, dozens of Republican-led State legislatures 
have seized on the former President's big lie and introduced hundreds 
of bills aimed at tightening voting rules under the nasty guise--the 
nasty, malicious, and false guise--of election integrity. These bills, 
sadly, are aimed at Americans of color--Black Americans, Latinos, 
Native Americans.
  Despicable efforts to target these historically disenfranchised 
communities have become a central component of the electoral strategy 
of one of America's major political parties. Shame on them. Shame. It 
is infuriating. Infuriating. When you lose an election, you are 
supposed to win over the people you lost, not stop them from voting. 
That is un-American, autocratic, and against the fundamentals of our 
democracy, but this is happening in States all across the country--all 
across the country.
  Maybe the most reprehensible effort is underway in Georgia, where 
State Republicans are trying to limit absentee and mail-in voting, make 
it harder to post a ballot by drop box, and disallowing early voting on 
Sunday, a day when many churchgoing African Americans participate in 
voter drives. Does anyone on the other side of the aisle think taking 
away Sunday voting in Georgia is not bigoted? What is the rationale? 
Stop it, if you want to stand for equality and justice.
  Our country has supposedly come a long way since African Americans in 
the South were forced to guess the number of jellybeans in a jar in 
order to vote. But some of these voter suppression laws in Georgia and 
other Republican States smack of Jim Crow in the 21st century rearing 
its ugly head once again.
  These laws and their various cousins in Republican State legislatures 
across the country are collectively one of the greatest threats to 
modern American democracy. According to a recent report in the 
Washington Post, these laws could strain every available method of 
voting for tens of millions of Americans, potentially amounting to the 
most sweeping contraction of ballot access in the United States since 
the end of Reconstruction, when Southern States curtailed the voting 
rights of formerly enslaved Black men.
  If one party believes ``heads we win; tails you cheated''; if one 
political party believes that when you lose an election, the answer 
isn't to win more votes but, rather, to prevent the other side from 
voting, then we have serious and existential threats to our democracy 
on our hands.
  This is no political dispute. It goes way beyond that to the core--
the core--of what America is all about. That is why we need S. 1 so 
badly, a bill that would combat all of these voter suppression efforts 
by restoring critical parts of the Voting Rights Act; a bill that would 
make it easier, not harder, to vote by automatically registering 
American voters when they get a driver's license; a bill that would 
limit dark money and corruption in our politics and much more.
  There are a lot of problems in our country--healthcare and climate 
change and income inequality--but we designed a democracy that would 
allow competing interests in our country to come together and agree on 
solutions. If our democracy doesn't work, we have no hope of solving 
any of our other problems.
  S. 1 is going to be a top priority this Congress. We will fight and 
fight and fight to get this done legislatively. Failure is not an 
option. Too darn much is at stake

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