During debate on the House floor, Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY) spoke in opposition to HR 8281, theSafeguard American Voter Eligibility Act.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Madam Speaker, you're going to hear a lot of fear-mongering rhetoric from my colleagues
00:05across the aisle today.
00:07They claim the American people have no confidence in our elections.
00:11Where have we heard that one before?
00:13In 2020, Republican after Republican debased themselves by parroting lies about the election,
00:19by repeating claims they knew to be false.
00:23They claimed that Americans had doubts about the election outcome, knowing full well that
00:27those doubts only existed because of the easily disproven conspiracy theories MAGA
00:32Republicans had been spreading.
00:35Those same Republicans organized illegal efforts to subvert the peaceful transfer of power
00:40that undergirds our cherished democracy.
00:44There were criminal efforts to send false slates of electors to Washington to steal
00:48the presidency from Joe Biden.
00:51People have been charged with crimes for these fake elector schemes, the very schemes that
00:55MAGA Republicans cheered on.
00:58More than that, the former administration used the levers of government to try to retain
01:02their failing grip on power.
01:05Where is the respect for law and order?
01:07Where is the reverence for justice?
01:10As criminal indictments have shown, there were coordinated, intentional schemes among
01:15some in the White House and members of the Department of Justice to override the will
01:19of the American people to suborn a coup d'etat right here in the United States.
01:26The former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has stated publicly that Pentagon officials
01:31feared that the former president would attempt to use the military to stay in power.
01:36It's heartbreaking that this happened in our country.
01:40But what happened next is even worse.
01:43After witnessing these corrupt efforts to stay in power, this downright shameful attempt
01:48to overthrow our system of government, what did Republicans do?
01:51Did they defend this country from all enemies, foreign and domestic?
01:55No, they cowered.
01:58Speaker Johnson, joined by 126 House Republicans, filed an amicus brief with the United States
02:04Supreme Court that attempted to throw out millions of American votes.
02:09Where did this lead?
02:10To a violent and deadly attack on this historic, majestic building.
02:16To our colleagues, who in this very room on both sides of the aisle, clad in escape hoods
02:21and frantically calling loved ones, praying for divine deliverance.
02:26As the mob stormed the Capitol, savagely beating police, calling for the execution of the sitting
02:32vice president of the United States, the former president sat idly by.
02:36He did nothing to stop the attack.
02:38He did nothing to try to save lives, to save the republic.
02:42He watched television in the White House for hours, as the democracy was shaken to
02:46its core.
02:47As patriots like Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi begged for support from the National Guard,
02:52from anyone, the former president did nothing.
02:56But even the memories of that darkest of days hasn't deterred Republicans' quest for power.
03:01They've decided to try it all again.
03:04Last month, a rogues gallery of election deniers stood on the steps of the Capitol, spreading
03:08more inaccuracies about the security of our elections.
03:12They admitted that they had no evidence of non-citizen voting in our elections.
03:17The same rhetoric that nearly broke our nation four years ago.
03:21Republicans' continued election denialism is akin to collective hero syndrome, where
03:26individuals create harmful situations, like lighting a fire, only to seek praise for putting
03:32the fire out.
03:33This was a deeply dishonorable exercise when it began in 2020, and the dishonor has not
03:39abated.
03:40The SAVE Act, and all the untruthful rhetoric around it, is part of the same project that
03:45election deniers began years ago.
03:48They are continuing, indeed they are magnifying, the collective delusion by claiming that non-citizens
03:55are voting in federal elections.
03:57Simply put, they are not.
03:59It is against the law for non-citizens to register to vote and to vote in federal elections.
04:05Let me repeat this.
04:07It's against the law for non-citizens to register in and to vote in federal elections.
04:13The false claim that there is a conspiracy to register non-citizens is a pretext for
04:18trying to overturn the 2024 election, potentially leading to another tragedy on January 6, 2025.
04:27So then, let's turn to the profoundly damaging bill in front of us, the so-called SAVE Act.
04:32If I were to summarize what this bill does, I would offer this description.
04:36It would create enormous burdens for those registering to vote, erecting barriers that
04:41would shock most Americans, including most Republicans.
04:46To begin, as my Republican colleague admitted at the Rules Committee on Monday, the SAVE
04:50Act will prohibit most Americans from registering to vote with their driver's license alone.
04:56Yes, you heard that right.
04:57The SAVE Act will bar Americans from using a standard state-issued driver's license
05:04alone when registering to vote.
05:06The bill will prohibit the use of the new and improved REAL IDs for over 95% of the
05:12American public.
05:14And this bill will apply to every American citizen.
05:19So what is a citizen to do if they cannot use their REAL ID compliant driver's license?
05:25Well, the SAVE Act will allow Americans to use a passport to register.
05:29But only 48% of Americans have a passport.
05:32So over 130 million Americans are out of luck.
05:37But wait, as they say, there's more.
05:39Can a member of our military use their military ID to register to vote?
05:44Surely military IDs will be enough to register to vote in our elections?
05:49Not so.
05:50According to Republicans, service members will need to bring their military ID and a
05:54copy of their service record showing their place of birth within the United States.
05:59But many service members who are born abroad, say to military parents overseas, well then
06:05those service members will be entirely blocked from using their military ID to register.
06:11And this bill requires any new registrant to show their proof of citizenship in person
06:17at an election office.
06:18So any service member deployed overseas that wants to register to vote will not be able
06:24to.
06:25No dice.
06:26That's right, the SAVE Act will prevent members of our armed forces deployed overseas from
06:31registering to vote.
06:33Republicans are pushing a bill that will disenfranchise U.S. military personnel protecting us overseas
06:39from registering.
06:40It's unpatriotic and it's shameful.
06:43And wait, there's even more.
06:45Native American voters will be unable to use their tribal IDs to register to vote unless
06:49their tribal ID demonstrates their place of birth in the United States.
06:53I ask every American, does your state or tribal issued ID show your place of birth?
06:58The answer, almost certainly, is no.
07:01And what about your birth certificate?
07:03Under this bill, you could present your birth certificate alongside your photo ID.
07:09But herein lies the problem, tens of millions of Americans, particularly married women,
07:13have a different name on their birth certificate than they have on their photo ID.
07:18Under the terms of the SAVE Act, these millions of married women will not be able to use their
07:22birth certificates to register to vote.
07:26The bill would disenfranchise countless married women who are citizens, U.S. citizens.
07:31Let's be very clear, what is a voter supposed to do if they don't have a passport?
07:36If their real ID, like almost every American, does not show citizenship status?
07:40Well then the SAVE Act will not allow them to register.
07:43Especially millions upon millions of American women, students, service members, native voters,
07:49and many more.
07:51This bill is not actually about preventing non-citizens from voting in federal elections.
07:55I'll repeat what I said before, it is already illegal for non-citizens to register and to
08:00vote in federal elections.
08:02We litigated this back in 2020 when Republicans alleged mass voter fraud in state after state.
08:08Yes, yet every recount, audit, and lawsuit demonstrated the 2020 election was fair and
08:16free from fraud.
08:17Our federal elections are safe and secure.
08:20It's that simple.
08:21During today's debate we'll hear from my colleagues across the aisle about the risk of non-citizens
08:26flooding our border and then somehow registering and voting in federal elections at a massive
08:31scale.
08:32Well it's rich to hear so-called concern from the party that killed a bipartisan border
08:37deal to address this problem.
08:39My Democratic colleagues and I have clearly responded with the truth.
08:42The American people know Republicans are misleading them.
08:46Here is what the SAVE Act is actually about.
08:50This bill is about scaring Americans.
08:52This bill is about silencing Americans.
08:55This bill is about disenfranchising Americans.
08:58This bill is about further damaging the foundations of our democracy.
09:03As they look back on the wreckage they wrought four years ago, Republicans are not chagrined.
09:08They are not ashamed.
09:10They are in fact emboldened.
09:12This is a deeply damaging bill.
09:14It will disenfranchise tens of millions of Americans.
09:18It will disenfranchise military voters, especially those serving bravely and courageously overseas.
09:24It will disenfranchise married women who changed their names.
09:27It will disenfranchise rural voters.
09:30It will disenfranchise native voters and students and poor voters and elderly voters.
09:35It will disenfranchise survivors of natural disasters like so many are experiencing this
09:41week across the United States.
09:43House Republicans are fine with increasing the burdens, amplifying the costs, in time,
09:49in money, in effort, for American citizens to vote.
09:52House Democrats are not.
09:54This bill is an overt effort to make Americans believe that American elections are rife with
10:00fraud.
10:01There is no evidence this is the case.
10:03I strongly urge defeat of the bill and I reserve the balance of my time.