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Floor Speech

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Mr. HAGERTY. Mr. President, the SAVE America Act answers one simple question: Should noncitizens be able to cast a vote in American elections?

The answer is clearly, incontrovertibly, no. Indeed, the right to cast a vote in American elections is something that belongs to American citizens alone. It is a precious right. The American people understand this.

And you know what? The American people agree. More than 90 percent of Republicans, more than 80 percent of Independents, and more than 70 percent of Democrats want proof of citizenship--a valid ID--in order to vote in American elections. Why wouldn't they?

With such a groundswell of support from the American people, it makes me wonder why my colleagues on the other side of the aisle don't support voter ID. You must ask yourself: Who are they representing? They can't be representing their constituents. If they were, they would be screaming from the rooftops: Pass voter ID into law today. But they are not. They are not.

Then you ask yourself: Who is their constituency? Is it illegal aliens? Someone in a far-off land they have never met? Are they representing some moneyed interest that are opposed to voter ID?

These are all valid questions, but the bottom line is this: The opponents of the SAVE America Act are not representing the will of the voters, including those of their own party. Voters across this Nation are not being represented.

I can tell you that whether I am back in Tennessee or here in Washington, I constantly hear from my constituents about the need to pass this piece of legislation. Tennessee requires an ID to vote, and we have the strongest election integrity laws in the United States. We get it in Tennessee.

Tennesseans, like the majority of Americans, understand that every vote cast by an illegal immigrant or anyone who isn't a citizen disenfranchises an American citizen.

A vote against this legislation, frankly, is a dereliction of duty. It is further proof of what I think many Americans feel about Congress, that the politicians they sent to Washington don't care about their views and can't be bothered to represent them. Americans are frustrated when the very second a politician is sworn in, that politician seems to forget all about the very people that they took a solemn oath of office to represent, defend, and protect.

I urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to do the very thing they were sent to Washington to do. It is simple. Represent those who sent you here. Vote in favor of the SAVE America Act.

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