Government Funding
Floor Speech
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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, so last week, the Senate did its job to fund 96 percent of the government, while splitting the DHS bill from the rest of the funding package so we can rein in ICE and end the violence. Now, it is the House's turn to do its job, but a band of MAGA radicals want to highjack government funding to push an outlandishly toxic bill called the SAVE Act that would disenfranchise millions of American citizens.
Just a few hours ago, Donald Trump said he wants to nationalize elections around the country. That is what Trump said--you think he believes in democracy? He said, ``We want to take over . . . the Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.''
Does Donald Trump need a copy of the Constitution? What he is saying is outlandishly illegal. Once again, the President is talking no differently than a dictator who wants elections in America to be as legitimate as elections in countries like Venezuela.
And make no mistake, one of the tools to nationalize elections is precisely the SAVE Act that some Republicans are pushing in the House. I want to be very clear: The SAVE Act is dead on arrival in the Senate, and every single Senate Democrat will vote against any bill--any bill-- that contains it.
It is outrageous that House Republicans would even consider putting in the SAVE Act in legislation to fund the government.
Democrats have been clear for months. We will never in a million years consider this deeply restrictive and overreaching piece of legislation. Republicans who are pushing for the SAVE Act are trying to kill the funding bill and prolong this shutdown. That is all they want. They want to kill the bill, kill the funding bill, and have a prolonged shutdown.
Speaker Johnson should tell these SAVE Act Republicans to stand down, or else this shutdown is on the Republicans' shoulders.
Now, as for the SAVE Act itself, it has nothing to do with protecting our elections and everything to do with federalizing voter suppression. The SAVE Act is nothing more than Jim Crow 2.0. If the SAVE Act were to become law, online registration, registration by mail, and registration drives become a thing of the past. If you are one of tens of millions of Americans who does not have access to your birth certificate or if you are one of the 50 percent of Americans who don't have a passport, the SAVE Act could make it impossible for you to participate in elections. It would lead to massive purges that inevitably remove legitimate American citizens who have a right to vote from voter rolls. And even married couples aren't spared from the SAVE Act. If you get married and you change your last name, you too would be at risk under the SAVE Act of getting booted off the voter rolls.
This is just an outrageous piece of legislation. It is turning the clock back 100 years. It comes out of some rightwing brain that believes that certain people really shouldn't vote, that some citizens are more valuable than others.
So let me be clear as I can: The SAVE Act is dead on arrival in the Senate.
Hear that, House rightwingers? It ain't happening. Anyone who is trying to push the SAVE Act as part of the government funding is pining for a shutdown.
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