U.S. Senate Rules Committee hosted its first field hearing in nearly two decades in Atlanta, GA to discuss sweeping voter suppression initiatives being proposed nationwide 

Senator Reverend Warnock: “We Americans live in a great house that democracy built. And right now, that house is on fire. What good is it to expand the foundation if the house is on fire?”

Senator Reverend Warnock: “Congress must act. Congress has a unique responsibility to protect voting rights for every eligible American. To put it plainly, we’re only able to work on these issues because someone voted to send us to Washington. And woe on us. Shame on us if the people send us to Washington to stand up for them, and we won’t stand up for their voices in their own democracy.”

ICYMI from AP: Senate Democrats take their case for voting bill to Georgia– READ MORE on the hearing

**WATCH FULL VIDEO OF SENATOR WARNOCK’S TESTIMONY HERE**

Washington, D.C. – Today during a landmark Senate Rules Committee’s field hearing in Atlanta, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) testified on behalf of Georgia voters and voters across the country to underline the importance and urgency of Congress taking immediate action to pass federal voting rights legislation. During his testimony, Senator Warnock underscored the importance of creating a national standard to ensure all eligible voters have access to the ballot box. Senator Warnock also stressed the foundational role of voting rights in upholding and strengthening America’s democracy. As the original co-sponsor of the For The People Act and the author of the Preventing Election Subversion Act, Senator Warnock remains committed to protecting the right to vote for every eligible voter in Georgia and across the country, and reiterated during his testimony his commitment to continuing work with his Senate colleagues to pass federal voting rights legislation this Congress.

During a second panel of witnesses, Chairwoman Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), and Alex Padilla (D-CA), all members of the Rules committee, listened to testimonies from Georgia’s witnesses State Senator Sally Harrell, Executive Director of Georgia Coalition of the People’s Agenda Helen Butler, and Georgia voter, Jose Segarra, who is also a servicemember stationed at Robins Air Force Base.

Key Excerpts from Senator Warnock’s testimony below:

“To fight for voting rights is to fight for human rights. There’s nothing more noble, more important for us to do in a moment like this. And sadly, what we’re seeing in Georgia is an attempt to deny certain people the ability to have their voices heard in our democracy.”

“This new law (SB 202) also allows partisan officials in the state legislature to control our state board of elections and take over local elections and it allows them to engage in these takeovers, even while the votes are still being cast. This is a recipe not only for voter suppression, but for chaos in our democracy.”

“We can pass legislation that would create uniform national standards so that your right to vote cannot be challenged. We can protect the freedom of voters to decide how they want to vote, whether it’s on election day during early voting or by mail. And we can strengthen election security by providing new funding for states to replace old voting machines and enhanced training for election administrators.”

“We Americans live in a great house that democracy built. And right now, that house is on fire. What good is it to expand the foundation if the house is on fire?”

“I want to be clear: We’re only in the beginning of this stretch. Our fight has only begun and I’m going to keep working in earnest with my Senate colleagues to pass voting rights legislation, and to do it, this Congress.”

“This is a sacred moment. This is an inflection point in our country. We are in a 911 emergency for our democracy. History is watching us. And the future is waiting to see if we will act.” 

Read Full Transcript below:

“Thank you so very much. And I want to say welcome all of my colleagues to the great state of Georgia. We are very glad to have you and to welcome you to our state. Thanks so much Chair Klobuchar for inviting me to speak today about the urgent need for federal voting rights legislation. I’m especially grateful that the members of the Rules Committee have come here to the state of Georgia for its first field hearing in two decades. And we’ll hear from Georgia advocates, many of whom I’ve worked with and alongside across the years like Helen Butler, who have long been on the ground in this fight, and they can speak extensively to the detrimental impacts of voter suppression in Georgia.

“Over the last year, Georgia has become ground zero for sweeping voter suppression efforts we’ve seen gain momentum all across our country. We saw record-breaking voter turnout in our last elections. What we did in Georgia, this last election in terms of turnout, should have been celebrated by everyone regardless of political party. But instead, it was attacked by craven politicians who were more committed to the maintenance of their own power than they are to the strengthening and maintaining of our democracy spurred by the big lie. These same actors are now busy rolling back voting rights in a way that we have not seen in size and scope since the Jim Crow era. In fact, Georgia became the first of now 19 states in just a few short months to pass laws that restrict voter turnout in the wake of the November 2020 election.

“My home state exemplifies the effectiveness of these suppression efforts, as well as the power and the opportunity of what federal voting rights legislation can accomplish. Your vote is your voice. And your voice is about your human dignity. To fight for voting rights is to fight for human rights. There’s nothing more noble, more important for us to do in a moment like this. And sadly, what we’re seeing in Georgia is an attempt to deny certain people the ability to have their voices heard in our democracy. As I’ve said time and time again, some people don’t want some people to vote.

“So, they’re trying to deny access to the ballot, to set up hurdles that voters have to cross as if voting is a privilege and not a right. So this new law in Georgia, SB 202, would make voting harder for countless Georgians by creating these hurdles that voters have to jump through in order to request an absentee ballot, while also reducing the number of drop boxes where voters can return their ballots, by making it harder for community organizations to assist voters, whether from requesting a ballot to just handing out a bottle of water, by letting a single person make unlimited mass challenges to the ability of others Georgians to vote, clearing the way for baseless accusations. Imagine that your neighbor being able to challenge countless numbers of other citizens and their right to vote.

“And then even if you clear all of those hurdles, even if you are registered to vote, and you’ve got your ballot in the door, your ballot still might not be counted. Because this new law also allows partisan officials in the state legislature to control our state board of elections and take over local elections and it allows them to engage in these takeovers, even while the votes are still being cast. This is a recipe not only for voter suppression, but for chaos in our democracy.

“But if we pass federal voting rights protections, which the Congress has the ability and the constitutional right to do, we can reverse these restrictions. We can provide a baseline for voting – basic standards that apply no matter what state you live in.

“We can pass legislation that would create uniform national standards so that your right to vote cannot be challenged. We can protect the freedom of voters to decide how they want to vote, whether it’s on election day during early voting or by mail. And we can strengthen election security by providing new funding for states to replace old voting machines and enhanced training for election administrators.

“And so along with Chair Klobuchar as well as our colleagues and senators: Merkley, Warner, and Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff. I’ve also introduced the Preventing Election Subversion Act. This legislation would address some of the specific challenges we’re seeing in Georgia by stopping mass challenges against voters and preventing state takeovers of local election boards.

“I want to be clear: Congress must take action on voting rights. And we have no time to spare. There is nothing more important for us to do this Congress. Since January, nearly 400 bills that would restrict voting have been introduced in 48 states. They passed in 19 states. And as we speak, the Texas legislature is trying to pass the next.. We Americans live in a great house that democracy built. And right now, that house is on fire. What good is it to expand the foundation if the house is on fire?

“We have to have national standards that push against what we’re seeing in Texas, and Georgia and all across our country. While our brave brothers and sisters in the Texas Legislature have risked so much to stop this effort, I am disappointed that some members of the United States Senate could not even bring themselves to open up debate on this critical issue. That’s what went down the other day in the Senate, not the bill. But the ability to have a debate on the maintenance of our democracy. 

“I submit the voting is not just an issue alongside other issues. I believe that democracy is the political enactment of a spiritual idea, this notion that all of us have within our sacred worth, and thus the right to help determine the direction of our country and our destiny within it. Voting rights provides the framework in which all of the other debates about issues impacting our lives takes place, infrastructure, climate change, healthcare, you name it all critical issues, but democracy is the framework. 

“Congress must act. Congress has a unique responsibility to protect voting rights for every eligible American. To put it plainly, we’re only able to work on these issues because someone voted to send us to Washington. And woe on us. Shame on us. If the people send us to Washington to stand up for them, and we won’t stand up for their voices in their own democracy. So, I want to be clear: We’re only in the beginning of this stretch. Our fight has only begun and I’m going to keep working in earnest with my Senate colleagues to pass voting rights legislation, and to do it, this Congress.

“As I conclude my remarks, I can’t help but reflect on the fact that we are in the Center for Civil and Human Rights. And I think of Congressman John Lewis, whom I knew personally he was my parishioner. I was the pastor, but he clearly was the mentor. And as I was preparing to preside over his funeral, I asked myself, What was he thinking about as he crossed that Edmund Pettus Bridge? I assure you, he wasn’t thinking about winning a Presidential Medal of Freedom. He wanted to win voting rights for every citizen, because he was a patriot in the best sense of the word. Sitting in this shrine to civil and human rights, I cannot help but reflect on the words of Dr. King who said in 1957, “Give us the ballot and we will place on the benches in the south judges who will do justice and love mercy and we will place at the head of the southern states governors who will, who have felt not only the tang of the human, but the glow of the Divine.”

“This is a sacred moment. This is an inflection point in our country. We are in a 911 emergency for our democracy. History is watching us. And the future is waiting to see if we will act.”

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