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Floor Speech

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Mrs. MOODY. Mr. President, I know how hard the Presiding Officer and so many of our colleagues have worked to get the SAVE America Act to the floor. I want to thank the Presiding Officer because more than 200 years ago, this Nation began as a bold experiment in self- representative government, guided by the enduring words ``we the people.''

While the challenges we face today may seem more modern, more complex, and more immediate than those confronting the Founders, the principles they laid out still offer us lasting guidance because ``we the people'' agreed as to how we would live among one another. We laid out our founding documents in how we would create and enforce and uphold our laws. We made it clear that our strong Republic depended on ``we the people'' being engaged in our elections so that we could elect our representatives--the representatives of ``we the people''--to serve us.

That is why the issue before us--the SAVE America Act--is so important. It is because it is grounded in a simple, commonsense-- indeed, a foundational--principle that only American citizens should vote in American elections.

This should not be controversial. We should not have to dedicate days and days and days on the Senate floor in the United States of America to guarantee the foundational principle that only Americans should vote in American elections. It is a basic safeguard of our Republic that ensures that our government remains truly of, by, and for the American people.

In the very beginning, our Founders understood the importance of protecting elections. The Framers knew that our laws and our systems should reflect the will of the American people--no one else. So Americans must trust that their elections are not corrupted or skewed or nullified by noncitizens or fraudulent voting.

Right now, as I stand here, the American people have been very clear with us--with all of us--not just with those of us on the Republican side in this room but all of us--the Independents, the Democrats. They have been clear. Over 80 percent of the American public agree and think that we should have IDs presented when we vote. Eighty-three percent of Americans support voter ID laws.

I sat there on the dais late last night and listened to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle come up with some plausible reason they may oppose this simple concept, and none of it holds water.

They say it will keep certain people from voting, so we fixed that. You can file a paper and explain right there when you vote who you are and why you don't have the correct ID. It is very simple.

They say it is going to harm people. In fact, the people they profess to be protecting in some way have come out and said they want voter ID--the very people they think this will harm.

This is not a fringe idea. It is broadly supported. It is a commonsense safeguard.

Questions about election integrity are not new. They were debated by the Founders themselves.

We now have States that give licenses, admittedly, to people who are here in our country who are not here legally. Many States do that. We also have many of those States that sign people up to vote right when they give them that ID.

So people ask: Why now? Why do we need ID now?

Because of the nonsense and the subversiveness of radicals in the States in this country.

In Florida, where we have done everything right--everything we can do to secure our elections--how do Floridians know that their votes are not being diluted by some of these lawless, radical States?

I am one of the newest U.S. Senators here, and I am constantly asking: Who do the Democrats stand for? They will fly off to other nation-states to defend noncitizens. They will even stand up for communists in New York. For the life of me, I think they are even putting their necks out there for cartels time and time again.

When the rubber hits the road, they know exactly what they want to advocate for. They know exactly who they want to defend and who they will stand up for. But when it comes to American citizens and having their backs: We are going to fight it. We are fighting it for somebody.

It may not be American citizens, but they are fighting against it for somebody.

We have to ensure people's confidence in the system and in the legitimacy of our election results, and if we see resistance on the other side of the aisle to even the most basic safeguard--that of requiring an ID at the ballot box--it does not make sense. In fact, the States that have implemented voter ID laws did not see participation decline. In most cases, participation increased.

In the Federalist Papers, it was warned that groups may place their own interests above the public good, risking instability and distrust. That certainly feels familiar to me these days. One of the ways we protect against that danger is by ensuring that the rules governing our elections are fair, consistent, and trusted by the people because when trust erodes our entire system, our Republic is weakened.

The SAVE America Act helps to reinforce trust in our elections, but it is about more than this one bill; it is about preserving the great experiment of the United States of America, of ``we the people'' governing ourselves and doing so through our duly elected officers. That is how we hold them accountable to ``we the people,'' and power rests where it should--with the people. It is about protecting this great Nation that has endured for 250 years.

Because of that, regardless of what party you identify as supporting, I urge my colleagues to pass the SAVE America Act.

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