Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. SEWELL. Mr. Speaker, as a daughter of Selma and a Representative of Alabama's Civil Rights District, the fight for voting rights is very personal to me.

It was in Selma where hundreds of Foot Soldiers like John Lewis shed blood on a bridge for the equal right of all Americans to vote. They marched, they bled, they prayed, and some even died for the right to vote.

Mr. Speaker, the legislation before us today makes a mockery of their legacy. House Republicans' so-called SAVE Act is a dangerous antidemocratic bill that would do nothing to protect our elections.

While our colleagues across the aisle claim that this bill will prevent noncitizens from voting, we know that it is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in Federal elections. In fact, under current law, noncitizens would face up to 5 years in prison for attempting to vote in Federal elections and even risk being deported.

In reality, this legislation would purge thousands of eligible voters from the rolls, including Americans who recently got married or changed their last names and those with military and Tribal IDs.

Americans should see this bill for what it is, a cynical attempt to sow doubt in the minds of voters about the integrity of our elections. It is yet another attempt to fan the flames of election denial by the same extremists who brought us the January 6th insurrection.

Mr. Speaker, we are elected officials who should be fighting to protect and expand access to the ballot box, not restrict it. We should be working to advance the progress made by the civil rights and voting rights movement rather than rolling it back.

Let's be clear, the biggest threat to our elections is not noncitizen voting; it is the lack of Federal oversight which has allowed States to advance hundreds of new laws and new bills making it harder for Americans to vote.

Mr. Speaker, the House should be considering H.R. 14, the John Robert Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which I introduced in September. H.R. 14 would restore Federal oversight. It would establish a new formula to protect and prevent States with a recent history of voter discrimination from restricting voter access.

In doing so, it would protect access to the ballot box for every eligible American.

With State lawmakers working overtime to erect barriers to the ballot box, the need for Federal voting rights protections is just as urgent today as it was 60 years ago. After all, it is up to the voters to choose our elected leaders, not the other way around.

Never did I think that 60 years after John Lewis was bludgeoned on a bridge in my hometown of Selma, Alabama, that I would be fighting to restore the full protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It goes to show that progress is elusive, and every generation must fight to preserve the progress of the past and to advance it. John Lewis didn't give up and neither will we.

Mr. Speaker, House Republicans' so-called SAVE Act is a dangerous antidemocratic bill that has no place on this floor. It is for that reason that at the appropriate time, I will offer a motion to recommit this bill back to the committee. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the motion to recommit.

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Ms. SEWELL. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

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