Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act

Floor Speech

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Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I am going to have some comments on the SAVE America Act, and I think it is appropriate that we move forward on that legislation.

First, I want to talk a little bit about what has happened with the Department of Homeland Security. We are 32 days into a shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security. That is an unpleasant thought for a lot of our citizens in this country. Think about our TSA workers and our Secret Service agents who are out there working without a paycheck. FEMA, the emergency management response, FEMA has been suspended as communities in Tennessee, I know Michigan, the East Coast, places where we have had these storms, they are needing FEMA and the help that is there. But nope, because of the Democrats, the DHS is not funded.

Now, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, CISA, is facing staff shortages, increasing risk of cyber attacks from foreign adversaries like Iran, or the rest of the ``axis of evil,'' Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran. In that Agency, people are not showing up for work.

The Coast Guard, core operations of the U.S. Coast Guard, have been disrupted, maritime search and rescue, port security, patrols that stop drug traffickers, that has been disrupted. Why? Because our colleagues are refusing to fund the Department of Homeland Security. They have voted repeatedly to keep DHS shut down.

Now, I think it is irresponsible at any time to block these programs and this Department, but especially now. It is so reckless because of the elevated terror threats that we are seeing, especially from Iran, which, by the way, Iran is the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism.

Now, you can look at what has happened since Operation Epic Fury started. You had the shooting at a bar in Austin, TX. The attacker wore an undershirt displaying an Iranian flag. The FBI is looking at that as terrorism. On Thursday, a man from Lebanon plowed a truck strapped with explosives through a synagogue in Michigan.

Same day, you had an immigrant from Sierra Leone who opened fire on an ROTC class at Old Dominion University, killing one person, injuring two others, and we had some students who were able to apprehend this individual.

And the suspect was previously convicted of providing materiel support to ISIS, but he was released early in 2024 under the Biden administration.

Now, last Monday, the Justice Department charged two men for allegedly igniting homemade bombs outside the mayor's residence in New York City, and that was an ISIS-inspired attack.

Late last month, a Federal trial started against a Pakistani national who was allegedly recruited by Iran to kill a United States politician ahead of the 2024 election. President Trump was a potential target.

Now, it is important to note these are not isolated incidences; they are part of what we are seeing as a very unfortunate trend.

Over the course of his administration, Joe Biden and his administration allowed at least 18,000 known or suspected terrorists to enter our country. They had that open border. They liked that open border. They were working overtime trying to make illegal legal. And along the way, they let in 18,000--18,000--known or suspected terrorists. This does not include the more than 2 million ``got-aways'' that also came across that border without being apprehended.

I know that Homeland Security Investigations is working overtime to find these individuals to apprehend, detain, prosecute, and deport them, to get them out of this country, but there again, Homeland Security Investigations has a limited capacity to work on these threats because the Democrats have chosen yet again to shut down the Department of Homeland Security.

Now, one would think that addressing this issue would be important to them, but we think that they continue to say they want more restrictions on ICE.

What this is really about, Mr. President, is our friends across the aisle have promised their base--promised them: Look, we are going to defund Federal law enforcement. You leave it to us; we are going to abolish ICE. You leave it to us; we have got a plan.

Their plan, it turns out, is to use not only the American people but TSA agents, FEMA personnel, Homeland Security investigators, the Secret Service, and the Coast Guard as pawns in their political game--pure pawns.

The President has tried to work with them. They had agreed to a funding bill, and then they changed their mind.

The thing that is so interesting about this is they keep talking about ``Defund ICE. We need to defund ICE.'' ICE is funded through 2029. We did that in the Working Families Tax Cut.

What we have to look at is what the Democrats are doing is saying they would rather abolish ICE, open up our borders, and defund Federal law enforcement than actually provide for the security of our homeland--give paychecks that are earned, give these paychecks to the TSA, to FEMA, the Coast Guard, and CISA.

So I would encourage our colleagues to think about this and think about the danger and the risk they are causing to our homeland, the stress they are placing on TSA agents as they are trying to screen luggage to make certain that the flying public is safe, the inconvenience and the harm that are being caused to communities that really need FEMA to step in right now. They need to think about the work that is being done in communities all across this country by Homeland Security Investigations to apprehend drug traffickers, child predators, and to keep our communities safe. S. 1383

The other thing that--and my colleague from Kansas had mentioned the SAVE America Act, and I am delighted we are finally on this bill. This is another area where we are watching the Democrats come full display of their loyalty to illegal aliens that are in this country. I mean, they are on it. Give them a choice between protecting the rule of law and protecting U.S. citizens, and they are going to choose somebody illegally in the country every single time. That is really a disappointment to me because the SAVE America Act is something that 83 percent of the voters in this country support--83 percent. These are not my numbers; these are numbers from public polls. Anyone can go and look these up.

It is common sense that you are going to show a photo ID many times a day to prove that you are who you are, and it is common sense that everyone should show a photo ID when they go to the ballot box to cast that vote. Indeed, they should be a citizen and prove they are a citizen if they are going to register to vote, thereby protecting ``one person, one vote,'' protecting the integrity of our election system. This is a way that we help ensure that we preserve the system.

You know, in Tennessee where I reside--my State, my wonderful State is ranked No. 1 when it comes to election integrity. We make certain that our voter rolls are cleaned up. We make certain that voter ID is enforced. We have accurate registration lists and verification of citizenship--all common sense.

If you are going to cast a ballot in our elections, be a citizen. Let's prove that you are the person showing up to cast that vote. And be respectful of the situation.

You know, Mr. President, we have said: Let's make it easier to vote and harder to cheat so that we protect the integrity of the system, so that we eliminate fraud, and so we preserve confidence in our election results.

Well, it is just nonsensical that our colleagues across the aisle oppose this. Can you imagine that? Eighty-three percent of the American people say: You are right. Let's show an ID. Let's be a citizen if we are going to vote.

But, no, our Democrat colleagues oppose it. They want to make it easier for noncitizens to cast ballots.

In fact, 14 States in this country--and by the way, these are overwhelmingly blue States--14 States do not require any documentation whatsoever to go cast your vote. Can you imagine that? You just walk up, claim to be somebody, and you vote.

You look at States like California and New York, which are home to more than 3\1/2\ million illegal aliens combined, and that is what you are seeing--making it easier to cheat, making it easier for noncitizens to vote.

You know, I think that you look at these issues, and you realize that our friends across the aisle, Mr. President--they might have been picking the wrong fight. People want DHS funded. They want the SAVE America Act passed. They want the integrity of our elections to be protected. And I think it is imperative that we come together on this floor and that we pass the SAVE America Act and make certain that we know who is voting and that they are a citizen.

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