During debate on the House floor, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) spoke in staunch opposition to HR 8281, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Thank you Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the distinguished gentleman, the ranking member of the House
00:06Administration Committee for his tremendous leadership. I rise today in strong opposition
00:12to this extreme MAGA Republican voter suppression bill. The right to vote is sacred. The right
00:21to vote is special. The right to vote is sacrosanct. The right to vote is central to the integrity
00:31of our democracy. It's the foundation of the principle of government of the people, by
00:38the people, and for the people. The problem is, apparently my extreme MAGA Republican
00:44colleagues have concluded that rather than trying to win a debate in the hearts and minds
00:51of the American people, anchored in ideas, they've chosen instead as a strategy to engage
01:00in voter suppression. There is no evidence that has been presented to suggest that undocumented
01:09individuals have been participating in federal elections. Republicans who investigated these
01:16allegations on their own committee have been unable to document these allegations. It is
01:28unconstitutional. It is the state of the law that only citizens can vote in federal elections.
01:38Only citizens can vote for the House of Representatives. Only citizens can vote for the United States
01:44Senate. Only citizens can vote for the presidency of the United States. So this extreme MAGA
01:51Republican voter suppression bill is not designed to solve any problem on behalf of the American
01:58people. It is designed to jam people up and prevent Americans from voting. The extreme
02:09MAGA Republican voter suppression bill will not allow Americans to vote who have a state-issued
02:18driver's license. The extreme MAGA Republican voter suppression bill will not allow Americans
02:27who are serving in the military to use their military ID while they're serving this country
02:38to vote. The extreme MAGA Republican voter suppression bill won't allow young people,
02:46college students, who are attending state universities all across the land who have been
02:55issued college IDs through their state colleges and universities to vote. There's a big difference
03:07between the House Democratic view of free and fair elections, the peaceful transfer of power,
03:14and government of the people, by the people, and for the people, and the extreme MAGA Republican
03:21view. House Democrats want to make it easier to vote and harder to obtain weapons of war.
03:30Extreme MAGA Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier to deploy weapons of war.
03:39Weapons, by the way, not used to hunt deer, but to hunt children in classrooms and human beings.
03:51So the extreme MAGA Republican voter suppression bill has given us an opportunity again to
03:57communicate with the American people on the difference between our values, House Democrats,
04:03putting people over politics, focus on the things that matter, like lower costs, growing the middle
04:10class, ending price gouging, defending democracy, and fighting for reproductive freedom.
04:20We embrace having a debate with our extreme MAGA Republican colleagues about issues
04:27that matter. Why won't you just take your issues to the American people? Why are you trying to hide
04:35your plans that are connected to Trump's Project 2025 publicly, but then you come to the House
04:44floor and you bring this extreme MAGA Republican voter suppression bill that is part of the
04:50blueprint of Trump's Project 2025? You can't fool the American people. They're smarter than
04:58you think. You don't want to have a real debate about issues. Why? Because the extreme MAGA
05:04Republicans want to criminalize abortion care and impose a nationwide ban. They're trying to hide
05:12that now from the American people, stripping it from their convention platform. We know what you
05:19really want to do. You put the justices, the extreme MAGA Republicans, put the justices on the
05:28Supreme Court who detonated Roe v. Wade. That's your agenda. That's part of Trump's Project 2025.
05:38You don't want to debate the issues. You want to suppress
05:42the right to vote. Why? Because Trump's Project 2025, which is part of your platform,
05:48wants to detonate and destroy the Department of Education, which the American people don't support.
05:55You don't really want to embrace the ability for young people of every race,
06:01of every part of America, including the heartland of America and rural America
06:06and Appalachia and suburban America, to get a high-quality public education.
06:11That's what Trump's Project 2025 is about. But you don't really want to have a discussion about
06:16that. You don't want that exposed to the American people. So we're on the floor right now with an
06:22extreme MAGA Republican voter suppression bill that does nothing because the law is already clear.
06:31Non-citizens cannot vote in federal elections. And so we're going to continue to do everything we can
06:41to make sure that the American people can participate in free and fair elections,
06:48have the freedom to determine their own destiny by exercising their right to vote in an uncompromised
06:58and unfettered fashion, as opposed to engaging in this type of frivolous legislative activity,
07:05at best, perhaps designed as a cover already trying to set up an excuse for what may happen
07:15in November, just like what was done in advance of January 6th. I yield back.