Juneteenth (Cong. Rec., June 21, 2021)
Summary
Congressional Record, Senate, page S4643, June 21, 2021. The page opens with the end of remarks urging the Senate to debate the For the People Act. Under Juneteenth, Cornyn says a bill Cornyn reintroduced earlier this year with Senator Markey was signed into law establishing Juneteenth as a national holiday, and that the bill was unanimously supported in the Senate. Cornyn also criticizes the majority leader’s choice to spend the Senate’s time on partisan legislation, and says the Georgia voting law gives Georgia voters more time to vote than voters in a number of blue States.
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“Juneteenth (Cong. Rec., June 21, 2021).”
Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2021-06-21-crec-2021-06-21-pt1-pgs4643-ccc6399160/
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June 21, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S4643
history. This is democracy on trial. were able to provide during the COVID– and every other ethnic and racial
Think about how you want to be re- 19 virus; we provided States with addi- group.
membered by your children’s children. tional resources to upgrade their Notwithstanding the facts that peo-
If democracy is worth fighting for, drinking water and wastewater infra- ple are turning out to vote in historic
even worth dying for, surely a democ- structure; and we passed legislation to numbers, they had to come up with a
racy reform bill is worthy of debate in combat hate crimes against Asian new sales pitch. They had to attack the
the Senate. Allow the Senate to do its Americans. efforts in the States to pass their own
job and debate the For the People Act. So the truth is, notwithstanding election laws, which handle the time
I yield the floor. what it may look like in the news or on and manner in which State elections
I suggest the absence of a quorum. cable TV or on social media, every day, are run. And, to me, the consistent
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The our colleagues here in the Senate con- theme was making it easier to vote and
clerk will call the roll. tinue to work across the aisle to find harder to cheat. To me, that is the sim-
The bill clerk proceeded to call the consensus and to craft legislation with ple message I think we ought to be
roll. bipartisan support where we can. I tell sending when it comes to our election
Mrs. SHAHEEN. Madam President, I people that legislation is hard to pass laws. That is what our colleagues
ask unanimous consent that the order by design, and our current rules re- latched onto.
for the quorum call be rescinded. quire us to do the hard work of actu- But over the last few months, they
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. ally building consensus on a bipartisan twisted and turned and manipulated
DUCKWORTH). Without objection, it is basis before we can pass legislation, the facts beyond any recognition. They
so ordered. particularly in the Senate. tried to frame new State voting laws as
(The remarks of Mrs. SHAHEEN and We continue to do our work in other the impetus or the reason justifying
Ms. COLLINS pertaining to the introduc- important areas like infrastructure, this massive Federal takeover—uncon-
tion of S. 2146 are printed in today’s which has been the subject of so much stitutional, in my view—takeover of
RECORD under ‘‘Statements on Intro- attention and debate; to do police re- State voting laws. They painted an
duced Bills and Joint Resolutions.’’) form; to deal with the high price of pre- alarming picture of the assault on
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- scription drugs. Republicans and voter access.
ator from Texas. Democrats continue to work together But if you actually take time to look
JUNETEENTH to address some of our most urgent at these so-called restrictions in vot-
Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, last problems. ing, you will find they are more gen-
week, Congress notched another bipar- This week, unfortunately, the major- erous than the current law in many
tisan win for the American people. ity leader, the Senator from New York, Democratic-controlled States. There is
A bill I reintroduced earlier this has decided to take another tack. He no better example than the Georgia
year, along with Senator MARKEY from has chosen to spend the Senate’s time law, which came under national scru-
Massachusetts, was signed into law fi- on partisan legislation that simply has tiny for enacting reforms that would
nally establishing Juneteenth as a na- no chance of becoming law. That is his give Georgia voters more time to vote
tional holiday. This bill was unani- choice. He gets to set the agenda, and than voters in a number of blue States.
mously supported in the Senate and our only role is to show up, debate the Here are the facts. In Georgia, the
got an overwhelming vote in the House bill, and cast our ballot. law that people claimed was racist and
of Representatives. Our Democratic colleagues have designed to prevent people of color
I was honored to be with President given the marquee treatment, a bill from casting their ballot during the
Biden at the White House when he known as S. 1, with the symbolic num- early voting season before in-day—
signed it into law late last week. It was bering of the bill as the first, meaning election-day voting—the new Georgia
even more special to celebrate with my the most important bill in their agen- law provides 17 days for in-person early
fellow Texans over the weekend. On da. But rather than a bipartisan bill voting. How about Massachusetts,
Saturday, I was honored to spend the that will be good for the entire coun- which is currently represented by two
very first Juneteenth National Inde- try, not just one political party or the Democratic Senators? Well, Massachu-
pendence Day in Galveston, where other, the majority leader has chosen setts provides 11 days. Delaware, rep-
Major General Gordon Granger and his to tee up this massive Federal election resented by two Democrats and the
troops declared that all slaves were takeover bill. home State of our President, provides
‘‘forever free.’’ This legislation first popped in 2019, 10 days of early voting. New Jersey,
This happened 21⁄2 years after the when the newly elected Democratic also represented by two Democratic
Emancipation Proclamation was majority in the House went on a mes- Senators, provides 9 days, almost half
signed and just a couple of months saging bill spree. A messaging bill is of what Georgia has provided for in its
after hostilities between the North and one that you really know will never be- new election laws.
the South had ended, but communica- come law, but it sends a message. Over But what you heard across the news
tion being what it is across the huge the last 2 years, they tried out a range media, cable TVs, social media, and the
country, particularly at that time, it of different marketing strategies. That like was that somehow, some way,
took 21⁄2 years for the message to get to is really all it is. It is not about pass- Georgia had conspired to restrict the
the former slaves in Galveston, TX, ing legislation. It is about sending a rights of African Americans and other
where Juneteenth has been celebrated message, trying to gain partisan polit- minority voters from casting their bal-
for many, many years. ical advantage. lots.
In my State alone, we celebrated They tried a range of marketing But the facts prove otherwise. This is
Juneteenth for 40 years as a State holi- strategies to convince the American the type of hypocrisy that we are see-
day. I could not have been more happy people that this overhaul to our elec- ing in this debate. As I said, New Jer-
to take a piece of history with me, a tion system is necessary. At one point, sey recently passed a law—just re-
copy of the bipartisan bill that helped it was a matter of election security, cently passed a law that expanded in-
preserve the legacy of Juneteenth for then of voter confidence, then a way to person voting to 9 days. Did anyone
generations to come. remove obstacles that prevented people claim that this was somehow a Jim
This is just one item in a significant of color from voting. Crow relic or a racist act or violating
list of bipartisan accomplishments we Well, I have some news for them. In the rights of African Americans and
have made in an equally divided Sen- 2020, we saw a record election turnout. other minority voters? Of course not.
ate, which we all know is no small Two-thirds of all eligible voters cast a Was New Jersey treated the same as
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thing. We passed legislation to con- ballot. That was the highest turnout in Georgia was in the popular media,
front the growing threats of China; to 120 years. It wasn’t confined to any sin- where it was suggested that somehow
ensure more businesses can grab onto gle racial or ethnic group; it was across this was a racist effort to restrict mi-
the lifeline of the Paycheck Protection the board. We saw African-American nority access to voting? Of course not.
Program, one of the most significant voter participation at virtually an all- But the New Jersey Governor took it
items of economic assistance that we time high—the same with Hispanics a step further. He actually criticized
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S4644 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE June 21, 2021
Georgia for what he called ‘‘restricting deed, you could check your name If democracy were in jeopardy, I would
the rights of Georgians to vote,’’ but against the voter rolls to make sure want to protect it. But I don’t see it being in
his own State provides half the oppor- you were legally authorized to cast a jeopardy right now.
tunity that the new Georgia law does ballot. Madam President, there is no voter
to cast your ballot. Obviously, this is a In Senator SCHUMER’s effort to pass suppression crisis—certainly not a sys-
bunch of political talk and an attempt S. 1, which we will vote on tomorrow, temic one. If there is a problem with
to try to intimidate Congress and the it prevents the States from asking for suppressing minority votes, there is
American people into this Federal voter identification even when vir- authority available under the Voting
takeover of the State election laws. tually every State provides that identi- Rights Act for the Attorney General,
We heard similar attack lines from a fication card for free. If you don’t appointed by Joe Biden and confirmed
number of our Democratic colleagues drive, they will provide you with a free by this Senate, to be able to go after
who will falsely try to brand this law card, and you can use an alternative them. There is no widespread effort to
as a form of voter suppression, even means of identification, but not if Sen- stop voters from casting ballots, and
though it is more generous than cur- ator SCHUMER’s S. 1 bill were to pass. there is no desire to hand the States’
rent laws in a number of blue States. This bill, S. 1, would also tie the constitutional authorities over to the
Here are some more facts. You heard States’ hands when it comes to main- Federal Government.
a lot of talk about mail-in ballots. The taining accurate voter rolls. So, if peo- Our Democratic colleagues are strug-
Georgia law sets a deadline of 11 days ple have moved out of State or if voters gling to accept this reality. They have
before the election to request a mail-in have passed away, this law would tie spent the last several days working be-
ballot, but in the State of the majority the hands of the States to make sure hind the scenes to negotiate a com-
leader, Senator SCHUMER—New York— those names would be removed from promise among themselves. There was
voters only receive a week. So you the voter rolls, which would make it never a question of whether or not this
have 7 days prior to the election to re- more likely that fraudulent efforts to would be a bipartisan bill because of
quest a mail-in ballot in New York and cast those ballots on behalf of voters the overreach that I have just talked
11 days in Georgia. And for some rea- who either didn’t exist or had moved about. The question was whether or not
son, our Democratic colleagues focus out of State would be possible. the bipartisan opposition seen in the
on Georgia and claim this is some sort S. 1 would tie the hands of the States House would continue in the Senate.
of conspiracy to diminish and restrict from periodically purging dead voters Even if the Democrats were to accept
minority voting, which is clearly false. from the voter rolls. This would also all of the changes that have been pro-
In New York, you also have to have a encourage something called ballot har- posed by Senator MANCHIN of West Vir-
reason for voting absentee, but in vesting. Now, some States provide for ginia and that have been endorsed by
Georgia no excuse needs to be given. ballot harvesting, but many, thank- Stacey Abrams, the rotten core of this
You can do so as a matter of right, fully, do not. Ballot harvesting simply bill would remain the same. This is a
even if you are going to be in town, makes it possible for a partisan in a po- politically motivated, Federal take-
even if you are otherwise able to vote. litical campaign to go around and col- over of our elections, and it will not
If you find it more convenient to cast lect ballots—maybe at nursing homes, stand. The Constitution doesn’t give
your ballot by mail in Georgia, you can maybe at shopping malls, maybe at the Democratic Party or the Repub-
do so—but not in New York. other places—and then deliver those lican Party the power to govern how
If any State tries to enact policies States run their elections. That is re-
ballots to the voting clerk at the des-
that suppress the votes of minority served to the States by the Constitu-
ignated place and time. Yet you can
voters, there is a law in place cur- tion of the United States of America. I
imagine if the chain of custody of those
rently, section 2 of the Voting Rights will firmly oppose any effort to hand
ballots is not traced and tracked and
Act, that gives the U.S. Government Texas’s constitutional rights to regu-
monitored. Just think of the opportu-
the right to sue that State or jurisdic- late and conduct its elections over to
nities that could provide for fraud.
tion and make sure that minority vot- the Federal Government.
ers have equal access to the ballot. As This bill would also alter the makeup
of the bipartisan Federal Election The one-size-fits-all Federal mandate
a matter of fact, the Voting Rights Act won’t improve public confidence in our
has been one of the most successful Commission, so as to give the Demo-
cratic Party an advantage. Right now, elections. It will be seen for what it is
laws ever passed by a Federal Congress. in a transparent way, that being a par-
And the historic turnout I referred to a there are equal numbers of Republicans
and Democrats on the Federal Election tisan, political takeover—a coup
few moments ago, I think, is the best d’etat, really—of the way our elections
evidence of that. Minority voters Commission, and that is the way it
should be. Yet this bill, S. 1, would give are run. Elections should be run by the
across the country are voting in his- folks who are elected and who are ac-
torically high numbers, which, to me, the Democrats a partisan advantage—a
big mistake. countable to the States—and to my
is the best evidence that the Voting State of Texas—and certainly not by
Rights Act is doing exactly what we Here is, maybe, the biggest insult to
partisan, political actors with an agen-
had hoped it would do when we passed the taxpayer: Whether or not you sup-
da here in Washington, DC.
it and when we reauthorized it just a port a particular political candidate or
I yield the floor.
few short years ago. the platform that candidate runs on,
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
So, if this isn’t a solution to efforts you can be forced to contribute your
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
to restrict minority voting, what ex- tax dollars to that political candidate
clerk will call the roll.
actly is this bill that we will be voting to help him run and win the election.
The senior assistant legislative clerk
on tomorrow, S. 1? The truth is it is a This is the government funding—real-
proceeded to call the roll.
partisan solution to a problem that ly, the taxpayer funding—of political
Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I
doesn’t exist. campaigns. I believe it is a 2-to-6 ratio,
ask unanimous consent that the order
This law, if passed, S. 1, which we if I am not mistaken. For every $2 that
for the quorum call be rescinded.
will vote on tomorrow, prevents States candidate raises, he gets $6 in taxpayer
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without
from requiring identification from vot- funding to run his campaign. That is
objection, it is so ordered.
ers to vote. In other words, you won’t your hard-earned money that you have
have to show a driver’s license or some paid in taxes that is being used to pro-
f
other means of identification in order mote ideas and candidates whom you
to cast your ballot. Yet, on the Jimmy don’t support.
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Carter, James Baker, III commission— I could go on and on, as the list of ab- LEGISLATIVE SESSION
I think it was in 2005—it recommended surdities is a long one, but our friend Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I
voter ID as one of the important ways the senior Senator from California move to proceed to legislative session.
to maintain the integrity of the ballot summed it up pretty well earlier this The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
so that the voting officials would know month. question is on agreeing to the motion.
you are who you say you are, and, in- She said: The motion was agreed to.
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