Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. MORELLE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, you are going to hear a lot of fear-mongering rhetoric from my colleagues across the aisle today.

They claim the American people have no confidence in our elections. Where have we heard that one before? In 2020, Republican after Republican debased themselves by parroting lies about the election, by repeating claims they knew to be false.

They claimed that Americans had doubts about the election outcome, knowing full well that those doubts only existed because of the easily disproved conspiracy theories MAGA Republicans had been spreading. Those same Republicans organized illegal efforts to subvert the peaceful transfer of power that undergirds our cherished democracy.

There were criminal efforts to send false slates of electors to Washington to steal the Presidency from Joe Biden. People have been charged with crimes for these fake elector schemes, the very schemes that MAGA Republicans cheered on.

More than that, the former administration used the levers of government to try to retain their failing grip on power. Where is the respect for law and order? Where is reverence for justice?

As criminal indictments have shown, there were coordinated, intentional schemes among some in the White House and members of the Department of Justice to override the will of the American people, to suborn a coup d'etat right here in the United States.

The former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has stated publicly that Pentagon officials feared that the former President would attempt to use the military to stay in power. It is heartbreaking that this happened in our country, but what happened next is even worse.

After witnessing these corrupt efforts to stay in power, this downright shameful attempt to overthrow our system of government, what did Republicans do? Did they defend this country from all enemies, foreign and domestic? No, they cowered.

Speaker Johnson, joined by 126 House Republicans, filed an amicus brief with the United States Supreme Court that attempted to throw out millions of American votes. Where did this lead? To a violent and deadly attack on this historic, majestic building, to our colleagues in this very room, on both sides of the aisle, clad in escape hoods and frantically calling loved ones, praying for divine deliverance.

As the mob stormed the Capitol, savagely beating police and calling for the execution of the sitting Vice President of the United States, the former President sat idly by. He did nothing to stop the attack. He did nothing to try to save lives, to save the Republic. He watched television in the White House for hours as the democracy was shaken to its core.

As patriots like Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi begged for support from the National Guard, from anyone, the former President did nothing.

Even the memories of that darkest of days haven't deterred Republicans' quest for power. They decided to try it all again.

Last month, a rogues' gallery of election deniers stood on the steps of the Capitol, spreading more inaccuracies about the security of our elections. They admitted that they had no evidence of noncitizen voting in our elections, the same rhetoric that nearly broke our Nation 4 years ago.

Republicans' continued election denialism is akin to collective hero syndrome, where individuals create harmful situations like lighting a fire only to seek praise for putting the fire out.

This was a deeply dishonorable exercise when it began in 2020, and the dishonor has not abated.

The SAVE Act, and all the untruthful rhetoric around it, is part of the same project that election deniers began years ago. They are continuing--indeed, they are magnifying--the collective delusion by claiming that noncitizens are voting in Federal elections.

Simply put, they are not. It is against the law for noncitizens to register to vote and to vote in Federal elections. Let me repeat this: It is against the law for noncitizens to register to vote and to vote in Federal elections.

The false claim that there is a conspiracy to register noncitizens is a pretext for trying to overturn the 2024 election, potentially leading to another tragedy on January 6, 2025.

Let's turn to the profoundly damaging bill in front of us, the so- called SAVE Act. If I were to summarize what this bill does, I would offer this description: It would create enormous burdens for those registering to vote, erecting barriers that would shock most Americans, including most Republicans.

To begin, as my Republican colleague admitted at the Rules Committee on Monday, the SAVE Act will prohibit most Americans from registering to vote with their driver's license alone. Yes, you heard that right. The SAVE Act will bar Americans from using a standard State-issued driver's license alone when registering to vote.

The bill will prohibit the use of the new and improved Real IDs for over 95 percent of the American public, and this bill will apply to every American citizen.

What is a citizen to do if they cannot use their Real ID-compliant driver's license? The SAVE Act will allow Americans to use a passport to register, but only 48 percent of Americans have a passport, so over 130 million Americans are out of luck.

Wait, as they say, there is more.

Can a member of our military use their military ID to register to vote? Surely, military IDs will be enough to register to vote in our elections. Not so. According to Republicans, servicemembers will need to bring their military ID and a copy of their service record showing their place of birth within the United States.

Many servicemembers were born abroad, say, to military parents overseas. Those servicemembers will be entirely blocked from using their military ID to register.

This bill requires any new registrant to show their proof of citizenship in person at an election office. Any servicemember deployed overseas who wants to register to vote will not be able to. No dice.

That is right. The SAVE Act will prevent members of our Armed Forces deployed overseas from registering to vote.

Republicans are pushing a bill that will disenfranchise U.S. military personnel protecting us overseas from registering. It is unpatriotic, and it is shameful.

Wait, there is even more.

Native American voters will be unable to use their Tribal IDs to register to vote unless their Tribal ID demonstrates their place of birth in the United States.

Does every American's State or Tribal-issued ID show their place of birth? The answer almost certainly is no.

What about birth certificates? Under this bill, one could present their birth certificate alongside their photo ID, but herein lies the problem: Tens of millions of Americans, particularly married women, have a different name on their birth certificates than they have on their photo IDs.

Under the terms of the SAVE Act, these millions of married women will not be able to use their birth certificates to register to vote. The bill would disenfranchise countless married women who are U.S. citizens.

Let's be very clear: What is a voter supposed to do if they don't have a passport? What if their Real ID, like almost every American, does not show citizenship status? The SAVE Act will not allow them to register, especially millions upon millions of American women, students, servicemembers, Native voters, and many more.

This bill is not actually about preventing noncitizens from voting in Federal elections. I will repeat what I said before: It is already illegal for noncitizens to register and to vote in Federal elections.

We litigated this back in 2020 when Republicans alleged mass voter fraud in State after State. Yet, every recount, audit, and lawsuit demonstrated the 2020 election was fair and free from fraud. Our Federal elections are safe and secure. It is that simple.

During today's debate, we will hear from my colleagues across the aisle about the risk of noncitizens flooding our border and then somehow registering and voting in Federal elections on a massive scale. It is rich to hear so-called concern from the party that killed a bipartisan border deal to address this problem.

My Democratic colleagues and I have clearly responded with the truth. The American people know Republicans are misleading them. Here is what the SAVE Act is actually about.

This bill is about scaring Americans. This bill is about silencing Americans. This bill is about disenfranchising Americans. This bill is about further damaging the foundations of our democracy.

As they look back on the wreckage they wrought 4 years ago, Republicans are not chagrined. They are not ashamed. They are, in fact, emboldened.

This is a deeply damaging bill. It will disenfranchise tens of millions of Americans. It will disenfranchise military voters, especially those serving bravely and courageously overseas. It will disenfranchise married women who change their names.

It will disenfranchise rural voters. It will disenfranchise Native voters, students, poor voters, and elderly voters. It will disenfranchise survivors of natural disasters like so many are experiencing this week across the United States.

House Republicans are fine with increasing the burdens and amplifying the costs in time, in money, and in effort for American citizens to vote.

House Democrats are not.

This bill is an overt effort to make Americans believe that American elections are rife with fraud. There is no evidence this is the case.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge the defeat of this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

It talks about Representative Loretta Sanchez in her 1996 election in California. My Republican colleagues continue to make allegations that there were roughly 600 noncitizens who voted in the race. It is patently false. The reality is the exact opposite. Many of the supposed noncitizens identified in the contest had, in fact, already become U.S. citizens through naturalization by the time they cast their ballots in 1996, and some had been U.S. citizens for decades.

Other U.S. citizens were erroneously identified as noncitizens because their names were like noncitizens' names that were in an INS database.

It is no accident. Even then, the Republicans were in charge of the Committee on House Administration. They investigated it, and they concluded that the committee's investigation had no irregularities. They dismissed the contested election. They concluded that the outcome of the election was not in doubt.

The fact that they would, 30 years later, bring up a contest that was decided admittedly by a few votes, where claims of widespread noncitizens voting has been thoroughly debunked says more about their lack of evidence than it does anything else.

It simply does not happen, and there is no evidence that that is the case.

I just use that as one more example of misleading the public into believing something that is false is true.
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Mr. MORELLE. Mr. Speaker, to my dear friend from Oklahoma, what I was suggesting was the Republican-controlled Committee on House Administration reviewed the allegations that 600 people who were not citizens had voted and ultimately made the determination that it was without merit and seated the individual, the Democrat at that time, Ms. Sanchez from California.

Lee).

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the passion of the distinguished gentleman from Texas, who is the sponsor of the bill, but I have not heard anyone dispute what I said in going through the incredibly burdensome path that citizens, American citizens, will now have to take in order to register to vote.

Your ID from your driver's license will not be sufficient if it doesn't have your place of citizenship. Mr. Speaker, 95 percent or more of REAL IDs, which will have replaced driver's licenses in many States, do not list citizenship. Birth certificates will be okay unless your name has been changed because you have gotten married. A military voter, particularly one overseas who has no way to go physically to an election office to register, will be unable to register to vote. The military IDs will be insignificant, particularly if their military ID and their service record don't show them as being born in the United States.

Frankly, to be a citizen of the United States, you don't have to be born on the continent or in Texas or Alaska or Hawaii. You have to be born somewhere, but you can become a U.S. citizen after you are born.

So all I am saying is it is incredibly burdensome.

I would further say since there is no evidence that this happened, all they talk about are scare tactics, the demonizing of people, and saying that there is this effort, it sounds like there is a suggestion that there is an organized effort to have noncitizens vote in Federal elections.

There is absolutely no evidence that that is the case, and we have had so many meetings of the standing committee and Subcommittee of the House Administration on Elections, that I would think if there were evidence of that, then it would have been presented to us.
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Mr. MORELLE. Mr. Speaker, I do agree with my distinguished colleague and friend from New York. I don't know why we are having this bill on the floor either. Yes, we can all agree that only U.S. citizens vote in Federal elections. I know that we agree because it is the law of the land.

You can't register if you are not an American citizen to vote in a Federal election. It is against the law. It is also against the law to vote. I agree with him. There is no reason to be here. There is nothing to be gained. There is no problem to be solved.

McClellan).
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Mr. MORELLE. Sewell), my friend.

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Mr. MORELLE. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to the time remaining.

Mr. Speaker, I think it bears repeating. We are suggesting that every American, if this bill were to become law, would face enormous burdens with registering to vote. You can't vote, you can't cast a ballot if you can't register.

Let's take again the situation as it will relate to military personnel of the United States. The SAVE Act will prohibit any servicemember deployed overseas from registering to vote at all. That is what the bill says. Check it out.

You have to be in person. You may not register online, and there is no exception in the bill for a servicemember to do that. It requires Americans registering to vote by mail or online to present their proof of citizenship in person.

Good luck doing that if you are on a naval vessel in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. That applies to military personnel. It means that any servicemember deployed overseas will have to travel back to the United States and physically visit an election office to register to vote.

You don't think that is burdensome? You don't think most Americans, if they were watching this debate, would say that can't be right? It can't be right, but it is right. That is what the bill says.

Republicans are supporting a bill that would prohibit members of the military serving overseas from registering to vote while they are deployed. It is unpatriotic. It is outrageous. Also, they won't even allow any amendments to this bill, which we asked for. We asked for amendments which would make this better, although, frankly, it is hard to imagine that we could make this any better, but still no amendments were allowed. I asked for a structured rule on this and was denied the ability to do that.

The Freedom to Vote Act by Congress would expand the ability of every American, including our servicemembers, to register to vote online. We want members of the military to vote. Frankly, we want every American to vote. If we have a problem in America, it is that too few Americans are voting, not that people who aren't registered or who aren't American citizens are voting. That is not the problem.

This committee and this House and this body ought to be working on ways to expand the franchise to every American because every right that we possess in the Bill of Rights in the Constitution is dependent upon our right to self-governance, and our ability to have self-governance flows from the ability for every American to vote. This bill puts enormous burdens and barriers to making that the reality.

I do note that my friends and colleagues on the other side have turned this into a discussion about immigration and the border, which is not the bill before the House. The reason I know that is because they were too embarrassed, perhaps, or perhaps were influenced by folks outside this Chamber to bring a bipartisan border deal that would have dealt with challenges at the border.

They didn't want to do that, so what are they doing? They are making this burdensome bill now a question of the border. They had their chance to do that. We would love them to do that. What they will do instead is demonize people and talk about a problem that doesn't exist.

The SAVE Act is the most severe voter suppression bill ever considered at the Federal level. It would make it burdensome for Americans to register to vote and to cast a ballot.

It has been brought before this body not to solve any problem, since Republicans have admitted they have no evidence of noncitizen voting in Federal elections. The bill before us is for Republicans to lay the groundwork to undermine the outcome of the Presidential election, just as they did 4 years ago, just as they will again and again until they realize either the futility of this exercise or the Republic crumbles. I pray for the former.

Democrats, on the other hand, want a stronger and more equitable democracy, one that respects the rule of law and ensures that every voice is heard. That is why Democrats champion bills like the Freedom to Vote Act, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and the Native American Voting Rights Act, not the SAVE Act.

I fiercely oppose this anti-American bill. I urge every one of my colleagues, Republicans and Democrats alike, to support the motion to recommit and defeat this extremist SAVE Act.

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