Voting Rights Act Extensions Pass House Despite GOP Infighting

The Rev.Jesse Jackson answers a question at a news conference in New Orleans, Wednesday, July 12, 2006. Jackson still believes the New Orleans elections were unfair, he said Wednesday, although he never went through with a plan to challenge the results. He was among activists who had said prior to the spring elections that the results would be challenged, arguing that hurricane evacuees from the predominantly black city were not given ample opportunity to vote. (AP Photo/Bill Haber) (Bill Haber - AP)

But Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.), whose Atlanta district abuts Westmoreland's, called the measure "the most treacherous and dangerous" of the four amendments, its goal being "to kill the Voting Rights Act."

A second amendment, offered by Rep. Charles Whitlow Norwood Jr. (R-Ga.), would have made every district potentially subject to the pre-clearance requirement, by including any jurisdiction where voter turnout fell below 50 percent in a presidential election. It would have eased the pre-clearance requirement for jurisdictions with voter turnout above 50 percent in three consecutive presidential elections, presuming that no court had found that discriminatory voting practices were employed. The measure failed 318 to 96.

Republicans also sought to strip the act of a provision that requires jurisdictions to print ballots in a second language if the local population includes a large enough percentage of Latinos, American Indians, Asian Americans and Native Alaskans -- groups that Congress found to have faced barriers in the political process.

The bilingual amendment, offered by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), had a particular potency, given the simmering debate over overhauling the nation's immigration laws. King and his supporters called the bilingual-ballot requirement an affront to states' rights and "a horrible attack on the unity of the United States of America." Said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.): "This is multiculturalism at its worst."

Powerful Republicans, such as House Judiciary Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), helped block the amendment, which failed 238 to 185. A significant GOP majority -- 181 to 44 -- supported the amendment. "This is a poison-pill amendment," Sensenbrenner said. He added: "We're dealing here with United States citizens. Certainly we ought to give these people assistance."

A fourth amendment, offered by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.), would have shortened the extension to 10 years from 25 years; it failed 288 to 134.

Staff writer Charles Babington contributed to this report.