In remarks on the House floor, Rep. Lori Trahan (D-MA) spoke in opposition to a House Republican voter registration bill.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Madam Speaker, we are witnessing yet another shameful attack on the fundamental rights
00:11of millions of Americans.
00:13House Republicans are forcing a vote this week on the so-called SAVE Act, a bill that
00:18does nothing to stop inflation from driving up grocery prices, nothing to end Donald Trump's
00:26trade war that is pummeling the stock market, and nothing to protect Americans' retirements.
00:33Instead, this is a messaging bill, sloppily written and dangerously flawed, designed to
00:39create confusion and chaos in our electoral system rather than strengthen it.
00:45The SAVE Act claims to prevent non-citizens from voting in federal elections.
00:51And at first glance, that may seem logical, if not for the fact that it is already illegal
00:58and has been for decades.
01:02Non-citizens caught voting in federal elections already face deportation and even jail time.
01:09Time and again, when pressed for evidence of widespread non-citizen voting, Republicans
01:15have failed to produce a single credible example.
01:19The reason?
01:21Because the problem they claim to be solving simply doesn't exist.
01:27So why are we here today?
01:29Why are we debating a bill that addresses a non-existent problem while hardworking American
01:35families are struggling with rising costs and economic insecurity?
01:41Because Republicans in Congress don't have real solutions.
01:46Rather than addressing the issues that matter, like lowering grocery costs and helping families
01:52get ahead, they are prioritizing a bill that disenfranchises millions of American women.
02:00Roughly 69 million women, about 25% of eligible voters in our country, have IDs that do not
02:09match their birth certificates, usually because they changed their name once they got married.
02:16Under this bill, if they don't have a passport, and half of Americans don't, they wouldn't
02:23be able to register to vote.
02:25Think about that.
02:28Tens of millions of women, the backbone of our families and our communities, stripped
02:33of their right to vote simply because they got married.
02:38Imagine a woman who has voted in every election since she turned 18, who pays her taxes, who
02:43contributes to her community.
02:47One day she learns that because her name changed when she got married, she is suddenly unable
02:51to register to vote in her state.
02:54No amount of documentation, no social security card, no marriage license, no previous voter
03:01registration will satisfy the requirements of this bill unless she possesses an updated
03:08passport or a birth certificate that matches her current name.
03:14This isn't just bureaucratic nonsense.
03:18It is an outrageous attack on the rights of women across our country.
03:23And the worst part, Madam Speaker, is that Republicans have known that this was an issue
03:28with this bill for years, and they've done nothing to fix it.
03:33They either don't care that millions of American women will be stripped of their right to vote,
03:38or that has been their goal all along.
03:41Either way, this is going to create chaos in every state in America, and it's going
03:47to make it harder for Americans to participate in their democracy.
03:52And it appears to be the latest in a long series of tactics, like polling place closures
03:57and gerrymandering, designed to silence voters that Republican politicians don't think they
04:02can win.
04:05That's not how democracy works.
04:07You don't get to silence millions of Americans just because they might not like your policies.
04:13You represent them, too.
04:16So I urge my colleagues to reject this dangerous legislation and protect the rights of every
04:22eligible voter in the country.
04:25Because our democracy is strongest when every voice is heard and every vote is counted.
04:32I yield back.