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Floor Speech

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Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank my colleague from Utah.

Madam President, thank you for the time and recognition.

I want to say thank you to him for bringing this issue forward.

As I am out and about in Tennessee, I hear a lot about this. People are concerned about what would happen if those who are illegally in the country get a vote, if they exercise the rights of citizenship, because so many people in Tennessee talk about that, in America, there is nothing more fundamental than guarding our God-given freedoms, approaching the ballot boxes as equal citizens for fair and open elections.

And they are quite disturbed because, for the last more than 3 years, what they have seen is that the Biden-Harris administration has waged a war on this sacred institution by working overtime to make illegal immigration legal.

Now, you have heard reference to the numbers of illegal aliens--and, by the way, that is the statutory term that is used--and about the numbers that have come into this country. We know it is north of 10 million illegal aliens. The Senator from Kansas referenced this. And the size is larger--the number, the population number--larger than 36 of our States, and the impact that that can have.

And as my colleague from Utah pointed out, when someone comes here illegally, and they go into a State like Minnesota that gives those that are illegally in the country a driver's license, and then that individual goes to another State, through the motor voter law, they can check that box, and they can register to vote. They can get that driver's license. They can register to vote. And we know that this has occurred, and we have seen it occur in voter rolls all across this country--from Massachusetts to Arizona and everywhere in between.

Now, recently, the State of Virginia went through their voter rolls, and they discovered that they had more than 6,000 that were on their voter rolls who had entered the country illegally.

And this becomes such a problem when you look at the number of States that do not require voter ID when they vote. We have got 14 States across this country where you do not have to show an ID when you go to vote at the polls. You show up, and you vote.

Now, one thing is clear. While it is against the law for illegal aliens to vote in Federal elections, many States and jurisdictions lack the proper safeguards to enforce this law. It is already illegal. It is already illegal. But they broke the law coming into the country illegally. They have broken the law by checking that box and registering to vote.

And the risk is higher than ever because of what has transpired at the open border, but the SAVE Act, which the gentleman from Utah has brought to the floor today, would solve this problem because it would require proof of U.S. citizenship to vote in an election, and you would have to provide that proof in person.

I will tell you, there are many people that are surprised that we don't require that proof--that you prove that you are who you say you are.

The SAVE Act also has provisions to restore our election integrity. It would require States to establish a program to remove those that are illegally in the country from the voter rolls, and it would also allow citizens to sue election officials who fail to uphold requirements for proof of citizenship.

Now, the House did pass this in July, and it had been sitting over here for the last couple of months. And so I would ask my Democratic colleagues: What in this bill do you oppose? What do you oppose? Why is it that you would want to open the door to allow individuals that have illegally entered the country to actually vote in a Federal election? Do you want to encourage them to vote in our elections?

This is why we need to protect the integrity of each citizen, each person--one person, one vote.

Now, my colleague from North Carolina has also come to the floor, and I want to say a word about his Promoting Free and Fair Elections Act, which would also be helpful. His bill, which I support, would block President Biden's Executive order that forces--not allows, but commands--it forces Federal Agencies to work with outside partisan groups to mobilize voters.

And guess what. The taxpayers got to pay for this. Talk about wanting to federalize elections. Talk about the Federal Government wanting to throw their weight. This is it.

And, of course, the Executive order excludes any information about how the Biden-Harris administration would go about approving or selecting groups.

So I commend my colleague from North Carolina for the Promoting Free and Fair Elections Act. I commend my colleague from Utah for the SAVE Act.

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