Forty-four conservative members of the House of Representatives have sent this letter to Speaker Hastert and Majority Leader Boehner urging that the VRA renewal currently pending before Congress “be given full floor consideration, including amendments” rather than the plan to bring the matter up on the suspension calendar without the opportunity to debate or add amendments.
The letter further states: “We fully support renewal of the VRA, but only if it can be modernized.” Another snippet:

The formula in Section 5 can be updated to reflect today’s realities. Section 203 can be amended to avoid a more serious burden on the states. A lack of willingness to update the Voting Rights Act to reflect the 21st Century, simply because the alternative is more palliative to some of our fiercest political opponents is inexcusable. Holding some jurisdictions to outdated standards is not good for our nation, our minority constituents, or our party.

It ends with an implicit threat:

As a significant number of the Republican Party’s most faithful members in the House, we would find it incredibly undesirable for the resolution of this current difference on how to approach VRA renewal to cause future cracks in our party’s cohesiveness. We fear it absolutely will.

Strong stuff. We’ll see if it affects the form of debate in the House.