Cantor working with Democrats on Voting Rights Act

WASHINGTON, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- Republican lawmaker Eric Cantor is talking with Democrats about restoring parts of the Voting Rights Act that the Supreme Court struck down in June.

While other Republican leaders have resisted replacing anti-discrimination protections in the VRA, Cantor, the House majority leader, has already met with Democrats about possible legislation, The Hill reported.

"We've had a one-on-one; it went very well," Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., told The Hill Friday, as Congress was left Washington for a five-week recess.

"We think there's a possibility we can do something in a bipartisan fashion. So it won't be Democrats going alone and Republicans [separately]. We're going to go together," added Lewis, an icon of the civil-rights movement. "That's what we did in 2006, and we'll do it again."

Cantor said a trip to Selma, Ala., where a landmark civil rights march took place in 1965, in March was "a profound experience," that illustrated "the fortitude it took to advance civil rights and ensure equal protection for all."

"I'm hopeful Congress will put politics aside, as we did on that trip, and find a responsible path forward that ensures that the sacred obligation of voting in this country remains protected," Cantor said in June, following the Supreme Court's ruling.