What's up with Congress letting the Voting Rights Act expire?

Question

Just a few weeks ago it had big bi-partisan support to be renewed.

Now, suddenly it has been yanked from being brought to the floor by Republican leadership that decides what will be voted on = it is is going to expire.

Even PBS was talking about not being able to figure out what is up with letting it expire considering it had a lot of bipartisan support.

Anybody have any ideas?

Sashie, I'm not sure. From what I have seen, no, but they all seem to be very vague when discussing it.

Answer 1

The Voting Rights Act has been renewed three times and remains in force. It was renewed in 1970 and 1975. In 1982, Congress amended and renewed the Act, making some sections (perhaps most importantly section 2) permanent while renewing the remainder (perhaps most importantly section 5) for 25 years (July 1, 2007). As of 2006, however, a number of Republican lawmakers have acted to delay renewal of the Act. One group of lawmakers led by Georgia congressman Lynn Westmoreland, come from some pre-clearance states, and claim that it is no longer fair to target their states given the passage of time since 1967. Another group supports an amendment offered by Steve King of Iowa, seeking to strip provisions from the Act that require that translators or multilingual ballots be provided for U.S. citizens who do not speak English.[1]

Answer 2

Well, obviously they want to wait for as long as possible ... they want to appease the bigots in the deep South I suppose ... do they still have time to renew it after the 2006 elections?