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Floor Speech

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Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. President, I rise today to join my colleagues in marking a very solemn anniversary. A year ago, our former President, Donald Trump, and his Big Lie about the 2020 election incited a violent insurrection on our Nation's Capitol and an attack on our very democracy.

We must never forget this dark day in our Nation's history. We must never forget the heroic work of the Capitol Police, the Metropolitan Police, and the National Guard to protect all of us and this institution and its critical work from that violent mob. We must never tolerate such an attack on our democracy and our democratic values.

That disgraceful day led to the deaths and injuries of brave people in uniform, created lasting scars for countless members of our community, and further opened the door to undermine our trusted democratic process for generations to come.

I applaud the ongoing efforts of the House Select Committee, bipartisan in nature, to uncover the truth, to provide accountability, and to ensure that this never happens again in our country. But Congress cannot stop at making clear to the American people how January 6 came to be and ensuring those who contributed to this tragic attack on our Nation and its institutions face the consequences of their actions.

We must also act to protect the right of every eligible American to vote and to secure the integrity of our elections against partisan interference because the Big Lie hasn't gone away--far from it. Across the country, Republican State legislatures are using it to justify attacking our democracy time and time again.

In the last year alone, more than 400 pieces of legislation--bills-- that restrict access to voting have been introduced in 49 of our States, and in at least 19 of those States, these measures have become law.

In my home State of Wisconsin, the Republicans in the State legislature are willing to disregard the clear reality that Wisconsinites from across the political spectrum exercised their right to vote in record numbers in a secure, fair, and safe election in 2020. Instead, they are pushing Trump's Big Lie to gain a partisan advantage by curtailing voting rights and putting up barriers to make it harder to vote.

They are today fleecing taxpayers to support a sham, partisan process under the false guise of election integrity, undermining people's faith in our elections. At the same time, they are advancing a redistricting proposal that will double down on Wisconsin's unprecedented level of partisan gerrymandering, all while our hard-working election officials are facing threats against their lives simply for doing their jobs.

Enough is enough. That is why the Senate must take up and pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act without delay.

Regardless of where you live in this country, you should have the same access to the ballot box and faith that our elections are fair and safe. Voting rights has long been a bipartisan issue, but, unfortunately, my Republican colleagues are obstructing us from taking up this incredibly important legislation and obstructing us from taking action to stop voter suppression and protect voting rights.

The Freedom to Vote Act will counter election interference by protecting election officials from the kind of threats, intimidation, and harassment that we are seeing across the country and, very specifically, we are seeing in Wisconsin. It will put an end to the partisan gerrymandering that lets legislators choose their voters, something we have seen all too clearly in my home State. And it will ensure that there are commonsense, nationwide standards on early voting and voting by mail that make it easier for more people to exercise their constitutional right to vote, particularly in challenging circumstances like this global pandemic.

The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act will restore protections under the Voting Rights Act against the type of efforts to restrict access to the ballot that we continue to see in States across the country.

January 6, 2021, is a day none of us will ever forget. The images of insurrectionists assaulting our brave people in uniform, our seat of government and democracy, will forever be burned into my mind. But far too many would like to whitewash the violent day and pretend the insurrection was not an existential threat to our democracy.

We have colleagues who have inexplicably and falsely said the violent mob was a group of mere ``tourists.'' My Republican counterpart from the great State of Wisconsin even called January 6 a ``peaceful protest.'' These fly in the face of the truth. This is not right, and we cannot allow the truth to be buried.

We must all condemn this insurrection in no uncertain terms, as well as the Big Lie about the 2020 election that drove the mob to desecrate this hallowed Chamber. And we must honor and strengthen our democracy by passing legislation that puts an end to these ceaseless attacks on voters and the integrity of our elections.

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