Veterans Accessibility Advisory Committee Act of 2025

Floor Speech

I stand here not just in strong opposition to this bill but in strong opposition to recent efforts by this administration to take over, literally take over American elections--but not just any American election, this American election, the one that is happening now. Ballots have already been mailed overseas to military voters for several State primaries.

I am opposed to this bill and any effort by the President of the United States to nationalize a Federal election for partisan purposes because I believe in this country. I ardently, fiercely believe that the United States, the shining city on a hill, represents the best humanity has to offer.

I believe the United States should, it must, stand in defense of and on behalf of every single American. Our Republic was founded on the simple yet revolutionary idea that our American government derives its power from the consent of the governed, from the votes of the people. Yet achieving that idea has required struggle over generations and generations.

With the Reconstruction Amendments, since the 19th Amendment, America expanded its right to vote. Americans have defended this right against efforts to restrict access to the ballot, to pull back from history's progress.

Congress has repeatedly affirmed and defended the ability for every American to participate in our elections, including through the passage of the historic Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The principle of government with the consent of the governed is why we are all here today. The principle is what we swore an oath to defend, but this Republican majority has made a sharp turn away from that sacred principle.

This bill which we are considering today represents a betrayal of every representative principle of this country. Passage of this bill, support for it from within this Chamber would be a tacit endorsement of a broader ominous, dangerous agenda.

The SAVE America Act is not an isolated piece of policy. It is part of a concerted effort by the Republican Party's leadership and this administration, this President, to centralize partisan power over American elections, to diminish the authority of American States, to once again stoke fear and mistrust of immigrants and in our electoral system, all for the partisan gain of Speaker Johnson and the White House this November.

Just days ago, President Trump publicly called on Republicans to take over, to nationalize voting across the country. This is not hyperbole. This is not hysteria. These are his words.

It should not surprise anyone that the SAVE America Act would require States to provide sensitive personal voter data to Kristi Noem's Department of Homeland Security, to send your personal data directly to the Federal Government, to directly invade your privacy, your family's privacy.

Why does the President want to send your information to DHS? Why does he want to take over this election? Why would he advocate for Republican control of Federal elections, a direct affront to the United States' Constitution?

Because he knows that without such drastic action, Republicans will lose the midterm elections in 9 months.

Just look at recent election results in Virginia. I know the President has. Look at them in New Jersey. Look at them in Texas.

Americans know that everything in this country has gotten more expensive under this administration, so it should be no surprise that this bill would make voting more expensive. Passports, which millions of Americans don't have but would need to register to vote, cost $130.

But beyond the cost, these Republican efforts to nationalize how we vote have nothing to do with safeguarding our elections. Instead, they threaten the very fabric of American self-government.

Now, ensuring the integrity of elections is not only legitimate, it is American. But integrity is achieved through the rule of law, through adherence to our constitution, through trust in the American people, of the electorate.

The security of our elections is not advanced, however, by a Department of Justice under Attorney General Bondi that sends an extraordinarily extortionate letter to Minnesota officials.

She suggested violence by Federal agents in the Twin Cities would only end if Minnesota just turned over sensitive voter data to the Federal Government, violating your privacy, demanding your information at the barrel of a Border Patrol rifle, the same data the SAVE America Act would force every State in this Nation to surrender.

This letter, the President's rhetoric, their push for Americans' personal voter data, none of this can be divorced from the legislative push we see here today. We all know why.

The SAVE America Act is part of a comprehensive Republican strategy to cement power this year. Speaker Johnson wants to make it harder for Americans to vote and easier for Washington Republicans to control how elections are run.

Let us not forget that elections in this country are administered by clerks, by secretaries of State, and by commissions and bipartisan boards chosen by citizens in every single community in America. They are not run out of the oval office. They are not dictated by partisan interests.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose the SAVE America Act. I implore them to reject efforts that would centralize control in the hands of Donald Trump, Pam Bondi, or Kristi Noem over how Americans vote, over who is allowed to vote.

Most of all, I urge this Chamber to reaffirm its commitment to the fundamental democratic principles that all eligible citizens should have the opportunity to participate in free, fair, and secure elections without unnecessary burdens and without partisan interference.

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

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Mr. MORELLE. Mr. Speaker, I would ask Mrs. Miller: Do 80 percent of Americans want the Department of Homeland Security and ICE to have your personal, private information and data? I think not.

Sewell), a member of the House Administration Committee.

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Mr. MORELLE. Mr. Speaker, I have great respect for the gentleman from Tennessee, but I do want to inform him that actually current Federal law prevents noncitizens from voting in Federal elections, so he may want to look that up.

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Mr. MORELLE. Johnson), who is a fellow member of the House Administration Committee.

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Mr. MORELLE. Moore).

Mr. Speaker, I do want to say my distinguished colleague from Florida conveniently left out one part of what this bill does, which is to share your personal, private data with the Department of Homeland Security.

From this point forward, if this bill were to become law, every single person, when they register to vote, all their data will be sent to the Department of Homeland Security--not the department of elections, not some other department that has control over the election process--the Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, whose people have now killed American citizens on American streets.

If that is what Americans want--I am pretty sure Americans do not want that. Somehow the gentleman forgot to mention that that is what this bill does.

Mr. Speaker, I do think the only people in America who are confused about American citizens being the only people voting in Federal elections are my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. I think most Americans get that, which is why we see no evidence of the widespread fraud that they keep talking about, talking about a solution desperately in search of a problem.

I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentlewoman from Georgia (Ms. Williams).

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

Mr. Speaker, I will comment that we have heard repeatedly that one person who is a non-U.S. citizen voting is too many. I agree. We have laws to prevent it. How many people is it okay to deny, U.S. citizens, who want to participate in the right to vote? To me, that would be the greater evil.

We have 80 million Americans--voter-eligible U.S. citizens--who didn't vote in the last Presidential election. Isn't that astonishing? It is a big number, so it is hard to get your head around it. Eighty million Americans didn't participate.

I am not saying that is anyone's fault, but I am saying this: Our committee and our House should be focused on how we increase voter participation. How do we make it so that more people feel as though they should engage?

That is the only way we will get to the true promise of American democracy, when all 244 million Americans who are U.S. citizens participate in our elections. We should be doing everything we can to make it easy for those people. It is their God-given right, an inalienable right, as we often say.
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Mr. MORELLE. Mr. Speaker, one other thing States are required to do is States would be forced to give our personal information to the Department of Homeland Security and ICE. Mr. Speaker, that creates great, great concern for Members on this side of the aisle and I think the vast majority of American citizens.

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Mr. MORELLE. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining.

Mr. Speaker, I do want to just correct one thing. We certainly care about States' rights. We understand what the Constitution says. What I am really concerned about is people's rights.

Every American should understand this. I am going to say this again. The SAVE America Act requires States to surrender to DHS every American's entire information on the voter rolls. This is their private and personal voter information.

The SAVE America Act is a clear attempt to nationalize elections by involving Kristi Noem and the Department of Homeland Security, the rogue department, into our elections.

I would ask people to go up and down their streets. Knock on doors. Ask how many of their neighbors think that is a good idea.

Clark), the Democratic whip.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the comments of the gentlewoman from Wyoming (Ms. Hageman), but I guarantee that American women are smart, and we believe that. They will be smart enough to see that the legal hurdles and burdens being put in place in front of them by this legislation are not only unnecessary but incredibly burdensome and are an attempt to make their lives so much more difficult.

Mr. Speaker, I do just make a comment. Late last night, the Republicans offered a manager's amendment that would move up several of the effective dates in this bill, which was supposed to take effect in 2027. I think it bears noting that if this bill becomes law, it will now be effective immediately. This amendment was offered initially by our colleague, the gentlewoman from South Carolina (Ms. Mace). Chairman Steil took the mantle of it.

I am sure that the members of this committee know that Arkansas, Texas, Illinois, Mississippi, and North Carolina all have March primaries. In fact, many of the UOCAVA ballots for these primaries have already been mailed to Americans overseas. How are election administrators in these States even supposed to begin to comply with a new Federal law that takes effect in the middle of voting? This is, quite frankly, election malpractice. It shouldn't be before us.

Yesterday, the Committee on House Administration heard from a former executive director of North Carolina's voting who called this effective date unworkable. I think that sums it up well.

This is a mistake. It is a mistake in so many different ways.

Mr. Speaker, I just say one other thing because I have heard a lot about this now. There is not one person on this side of the aisle who thinks that non-U.S. citizens should be participating in American elections. Not one. Not one has said it, despite the repeated allegations that that is the case.

I do ask: Are congressional Republicans okay with masked Federal agents hiding their faces and hiding their badge numbers from the American public while forcing American citizens to turn over their addresses to Kristi Noem's Department of Homeland Security?

I suspect not.

Mr. Speaker, I note that it has been a vigorous debate, and I continue to argue that this bill, in the strongest terms, should not be passed.

I just note, particularly for Members who spoke here today, for instance, in my dear friend Chairman Steil's district, 165,000 women in his district have a different name on their birth certificate than on their current photo ID, and 346,000 residents of Wisconsin's First District lack a passport. It would cost them nearly $45 million for those people to purchase a passport.

For the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Miller), 150,000 women in her district have a different name on their birth certificate, and 414,000 residents in her district lack a passport. It would cost them $53 million.

For Mr. Burchett's district, 176,000 women have a different name on their birth certificate, and 390,000 residents don't have a passport, which would cost them $50.8 million.

Mrs. Luna has 170,000 women in her district who have different names on their birth certificates than on their photo IDs, and 319,000 of her residents lack a passport. It would cost $41 million to purchase that for all of them.

Ms. Tenney has 145,000 women in her district who have a different name on their birth certificate and 420,000 residents without a passport. It would cost them $54 million.

Mr. Speaker, you have an estimated 170,000 women with a different name on their birth certificate, and 397,000 residents lack a passport.

The list goes on and on. That is the impact of this.

Here is the truth, Mr. Speaker: President Trump wants to take over American elections this November to maintain his tenuous grip on power.

Republicans have a singular purpose in supporting the SAVE America Act: helping the President get what he wants. That is what they are always about: helping the President get what he wants, not the American people. Republicans are falling over each other to help Donald Trump nationalize the 2026 midterm elections.

Don't take my word for it. This is what the President is trying to do. He says it. He always says the quiet part out loud. He said: ``We''--meaning the Republicans--``We want to take over. We should take over the voting in at least 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.'' That is what the President said.

That is why this bill forces States to surrender your personal, private information to the Department of Homeland Security, to the Department that has unleashed ICE brutality on the streets of America against American citizens.

The bill is so extreme that even a Republican Senator said this week that she opposes it, calling it Federal overreach.

In response, in just a moment, I will offer a motion to commit. This motion to commit would send this bill to committee with an instruction to strip the provision that gives your address, your personal information, to the Department of Homeland Security.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the text of my amendment to the motion to commit.

Mr. Morelle of New York moves to commit the bill S. 1383 to the Committee on House Administration with instructions to report the same back to the House forthwith with the following amendment:

Page 15, strike line 17 and all that follows through page 16, line 9.

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Mr. MORELLE. Mr. Speaker, I warn Republicans that a vote against this motion to commit is a vote to send American citizens' data to the Department of Homeland Security. A vote against this MTC is a vote to put Kristi Noem and Donald Trump and ICE and the Department of Justice in charge of the midterm elections this fall.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all to vote ``yes'' on the motion to commit because Kristi Noem should not control our elections. Donald Trump should not control our elections. We, the American people, the people of the United States, control our elections.

Mr. Speaker, I urge defeat of the main motion and support of the motion to commit, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. MORELLE. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

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