Speech #1090153538

In our country. our laws and our Constitution draws no distinction between American citizens born here or not. In fact. threequarters of those who are covered by the language assistance provision are nativeborn United States citizens. The rest are naturalized U.S. citizens. The opponents of Section 203 claim that the costs are too great. Studies disprove that contention. but costs are not the issue. Securing the right to vote must neverand cannotever be considered a burden. It is our moral and constitutional obligation. The arguments of the opponents of Section 203 are suspiciously similar to the arguments once employed for literacy tests to disenfranchise African American voters. I had hoped we had passed that period in our countrys history when such tests were widely used. We cannot permit the use of these tests once again.