“It is a day when Democrats will once again take a strong step to defend our democracy as we send the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act to the Senate for urgent consideration. Nothing less is at stake than our democracy.” “You know, a quarter-century ago, Republicans changed Texas state law to permit astronauts to vote absentee from space. They want to make it easier to vote from space, and they want to make it harder to vote on Earth. In the last election, tens of thousands of citizens in Texas waited in line for six hours to vote.” “Things have changed dramatically since 1965. Of course, that fact should be celebrated. The court reasoned that requiring states to preclear election law changes today based on conduct a half-century ago was an unconstitutional invasion of state sovereignty.” “Anything that’s happened before can happen again. It was a lack of the vote, that had 95 years between George Washington Murray, who was the last African American to represent South Carolina here in this body until I came along in 1992.” “The yeas are 220, the nays are 203. The motion is adopted without objection. A motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. The motion this passed.”