Nightly News   |  May 11, 2012

Georgia congressman Lewis angered by amendment

Rep. Paul Broun backed away from the Voting Rights Act amendment he proposed after civil rights hero Rep. John Lewis argued that such a suggestion was 'almost unbelievable' after so many people died for the right to vote. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>>> and on capitol hill , there was an extraordinary late night exchange on the floor of the u.s. house of representatives earlier this week between two members of congress, both from the state of georgia . at issue, the voting rights act , a landmark law from 1965 , to protect the rights of black voters. many southern states say they have remedies the discrimination from those days, but this week when georgia republican congressman paul brown proposed an amendment to cut off funding for enforcement for part of the law, as you're about to see, it did not sit well with democrat john lewis , a legendary figure in the civil rights movement who marched with dr. martin luther king jr .

>> it is hard and difficult and almost unbelievable that any member, but especially a member from the state of georgia , would come and offer such amendment. people died for the right to vote. friends of mine , colleagues of mine.

>> i apologize to my dear friend from georgia, if he's gotten angry with this amendment, and it's never my intent to do so, and i'm going to ask you new to consent to withdraw the amendment.

>> congressman lewis, as you may know, was beaten to within an inch of his life in the civil rights struggle. congressman brown's amendment was criticized by a number of his colleagues, including fellow republicans. even those who want a debate over the voting rights act said a late night amendment to the spending bill was not a way to do