Speech #940066140

I will try not to trespass too long upon the time of the House. but I do think it is important. and I do think it is important to understand the situation in which we now find ourselves under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. as extended. The purpose of that act was to make available certain voting rights. and to protect voting rights. it brought certainjurisdictions under the coverage of the act. Under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. those jurisdictions which had a literacy test and less than a 50percent turnout. were brought under the coverage of the act. As a result of a recent Supreme Court decision in Virginia against the United States. it is now held that those States are conclusively presumed to have used their literacy test to discriminate and. as a result of that. they cannot prove. in fact. that the literacy test was not used for that purpose. and therefore there is a conclusive presumption which in effect says that none of those States can come out from under the coverage of the act for another 10 years. if the act is extended. The purpose of my amendment is to remedy this situation by permitting the covered jurisdictions to work their way out from under the burdens of the Voting Rights Act. Mr.