from the Charlotte Observer, 5/3/2006

WASHINGTON - Almost a year of behind-the-scenes work by Rep. Mel Watt came to fruition Tuesday when House and Senate leaders from both parties endorsed a bill -- co-authored by the Charlotte Democrat -- that would strengthen and extend for 25 years the Voting Rights Act.

That 1965 landmark legislation, passed amid the civil rights struggles and then renewed in 1982, outlawed efforts, especially in the South, to deny African Americans the right to vote.

At a Tuesday news conference on the steps of the Capitol, Watt -- chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus -- joined an all-star cast of senators and representatives in setting the stage for what promises to be a quick and lopsided vote to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act.

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