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Voting Rights Act Renewed
(This article first appeared in the September/October 2006 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine.)
On July 13, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to renew the Voting Rights Act, the landmark civil rights legislation that first became law in 1965 and effectively ended decades of racial discrimination at the ballot box. The Senate followed suit on July 20 and President Bush signed the legislation on July 27.
The intent of the act was to ensure that no group was able to suppress the voting rights of another group; the law was initially intended to change longstanding practices in states and regions with a history of segregation. In 1970, it was amended to lower the voting age from 21 to 18, and extended for five years; in 1975, a provision was added to assist non-English speaking voters and the law was extended for seven years; and in 1982, provisions were inserted to protect the rights of minorities during the reconfiguration of voting districts.
The act was up for renewal again this year. Those who opposed extending it claimed that the a law is no longer needed. Recent history, however, suggests otherwise.
‘Pre-Clearance’ From Justice Department
One aspect of the act requires state and local legislators to get “pre-clearance” from the Justice Department before making changes to election procedures. In an action that got the department’s attention, an all-white board of aldermen in Kilmichael, MS, cancelled the town’s local elections in 2001 when it became apparent that the town was about to elect its first black mayor, along with several black aldermen.
The Kilmichael aldermen sought to delay the election, saying that they needed to redraw the voting districts. But the delay effort was interpreted as a maneuver that would enable them to keep some of their seats on the board.
In a more recent example of the need for the act, the Georgia legislature in 2005 imposed a photo-identification requirement on voters, and sought to charge $20 for a stateissued ID card that would be good for five years. The Bush administration Justice Department approved the plan despite vehement objections from the department’s own experts that it would be discriminatory.
Fortunately, a U.S. District Court reversed the plan. Had the court not stepped in, the plan most likely would have denied voting rights to many, especially among Georgia ’s elderly, poor, and African-American populations.
The Voting Rights Act led to the reversal of all of the aforementioned actions and protected the rights of registered voters, regardless of their backgrounds.
The 2006 Extension
When the House Judiciary Committee first considered extending the Voting Rights Act earlier this year, the panel approved it in a 33-1 vote. House Speaker Dennis Hastert promised quick action to extend the law for another 25 years, and Congress seemed poised to act. In a stunning reversal, however, Hastert pulled the bill from the floor under pressure from other GOP leaders. The opposition of right-wing extremists carried the day, even though the legislation would have passed the House with a significant majority.
The APWU was among those putting legislators on notice that they must not let a small group of lawmakers hijack this bill. Finally, on July 13, conservatives relented and the House overwhelmingly approved the Voting Rights Act extension by a vote of 390 to 33.
The “nay” votes came exclusively from Republicans. The favorable Senate vote a week later was 98-0.
Minimum Wage
Despite surveys showing that four out of five Americans support raising the federal minimum wage, the Republican House and Senate have consistently managed to engineer votes to prevent increases.
Earlier in this session of Congress, the Senate rejected a bill to raise the minimum wage by a vote of 53 to 45. The bill, S. 1062, was introduced by Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and co-sponsored by 35 other Democrats and one Independent. A similar bill in the House, H.R. 2429, was introduced by Rep. George Miller (D-CA). Both bills sought to increase the national minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour. (Individual states can set their own, higher, minimums.) The $2.10 per hour increase would phase in over three years.
The Senate on Aug. 4 rejected, with a 56-to-42 vote, a bill that combined a cut in estate taxes with the minimum wage increase; 60 votes were needed to advance the measure.
The House version had passed on July 29, after an aggressive legislative maneuver described by Democrats as a cynical act of political jujitsu, with House Republicans reversing course and embracing a raise to the minimum wage — provided that the legislation also contain deep cuts in the estate tax, which benefits only the wealthiest Americans, and an assortment of tax cuts for other special interests. Democrats vowed to oppose the gambit, charging that the billions in tax cuts would cost the U.S. Treasury so much that it would force cuts in Medicare, education, and other areas that provide a social safety net to lower and middle-income Americans.
Most Democrats were against the bill, saying that Republicans were holding the wage bill hostage — adding a tax cut for wealthy families to legislation intended to benefit working people.
The bill may be revisited before the fall elections: There has been no raise in the minimum wage since 1997, and during that same period members of Congress have voted themselves nine pay raises, totaling $35,000 a year. Senate Democrats have threatened to kill the next pay raise, set to take effect in January, unless the minimum-wage bill passes before then.
BOG Appointments
Just before leaving Washington for its August recess, the Senate confirmed four nominees to the USPS Board of Governors and one to the Postal Rate Commission. Mickey D. Barnett, of New Mexico, was confirmed for an appointment ending Dec. 8, 2013, and Katherine C. Tobin, of New York , was confirmed for a term that will expire Dec. 8, 2012.
Ellen C. Williams was confirmed to filled out the remainder of a term expiring Dec. 8, 2007, and James H. Bilbray, of Nevada , was confirmed to fill out a term expiring Dec. 8, 2006.
The Senate also confirmed Mark D. Acton, of Kentucky, to be a PRC Commissioner for a term expiring Oct. 14, 2010.
A Loss to the APWU |
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ABOUT THE LEGISLATIVE
DEPARTMENT
Myke Reid, Director
Steve Albanese, Asst. Director
(202) 842-4210
The Legislative Department helps advance the union's cause on Capitol Hill and keeps the APWU members informed about important issues and legislative developments. Working with the union's president, we are the APWU's eyes, ears, and voice in Washington, DC.
