In an Aug. 10 interview on National Public Radio with Ed Gordon (archived .. on NPR's website), U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (R., Pa) made the argument that affirmative action is a "government set-aside program"
that "benefits a very small number of African Americans" and "is on its way out."
Portraying the Republican Party as the victim of an unfair media, he asserted that "more Republicans, by the
way, voted for the Voting Rights Act, voted for the Civil Rights Act, than Democrats did."
Let's look at the votes. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed the House with 217 Democratic and 111 Republican
votes. In the Senate, the tally was 49 Democratic and 30 Republican votes. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed with 152
Democratic and 138 Republican votes in the House, and 46 Democratic and 27 Republican votes in the Senate.
So on neither act and in neither chamber did more Republicans vote for passage than Democrats.
I hope that now that Sen. Santorum has been informed of the truth, he will not make that false claim again.
Stephen J. Ferenchick, Wynnewood
Letter to the editor, Philadelphia Inquirer, Aug 26, 2005
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