Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as the Congresswoman for Georgia's Fifth District, the cradle of the civil rights movement and the home of Dr. King, Ambassador Andrew Young, and my predecessor, the late Congressman John Lewis. I carry their legacy with me every time I walk onto this floor.

Mr. Speaker, the SAVE Act is everything our civil rights leaders fought against. Don't think that it won't impact you or folks that you know. If you got married and changed your name, your ID won't match your birth certificate. If you don't have a passport and your ID doesn't match your birth certificate, you can't prove your citizenship. According to the SAVE Act, you won't be able to vote.

Right now, under Trump and Musk's disastrous economy, families like so many of those who I represent back home in Georgia are struggling to keep up with the cost of groceries, let alone adding $130 for a passport just to register to vote.

In Georgia, over half of the population doesn't have a passport, and our driver's licenses, even the REAL ID, don't prove citizenship.

This resolution could force Georgians to pay more than $700 million just to register to vote.

Mr. Speaker, that is a poll tax, plain and simple, and it is blatant voter suppression.

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Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, voter suppression by any other name is still voter suppression. This resolution violates the 14th Amendment, 19th Amendment, 24th Amendment, and every tenet of a free and inclusive democracy.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this disgrace of a voter suppression resolution.

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