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Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, this past weekend marked 61 years since President Lyndon B. Johnson delivered his ``We Shall Overcome'' speech to a joint session of Congress. Speaking from the House rostrum in the wake of Bloody Sunday in Selma, AL, President Johnson urged Congress to pass legislation that would secure ``the full blessings of American life'' to all, regardless of color or creed. That Congress would heed his call.

On August 6, 1965, President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law. That bill, nearly a century after the ratification of the 15th Amendment, would finally, finally outlaw discriminatory practices that erected unjust barriers to voting for African Americans, like literacy tests and poll taxes. It would open the ballot box in America to everyone.

Six decades later, another President would speak from that same rostrum--this time at his State of the Union Address--and that President insisted Congress pass a bill that would make it more difficult, would make it harder for eligible citizens to vote. How far we have fallen from Lyndon B. Johnson's noble goal. We have not overcome. With the SAVE Act, we are still trapped in bigotry.

Earlier this week, at President Trump's request, the Senate began consideration of the SAVE America Act in a marathon debate session. Why? Because President Trump is throwing a temper tantrum, demanding that Congress pass his legislation and nothing else.

I have long said that in politics, there is always a good reason and a real reason. The good reason the President touts when arguing in favor of this bill? That it supposedly would put safeguards to prevent voter fraud.

Nobody wants to see voter fraud. That is a good reason, isn't it? But here is the truth: Federal law already prohibits noncitizens from voting in Federal elections, and cases of noncitizens voting are extremely rare.

In 2024, the Bipartisan Policy Center decided to figure out how frequently we encounter voter fraud in American elections. The conservative Heritage Foundation's Election Fraud Database found that in the period of 1999 to 2023--24 years--how many cases do you think they found of voter fraud, incidents where noncitizens successfully cast ballots? Out of the millions and millions of votes that were cast, they found exactly 77 in a 24-year period--77. That is barely more than three per election cycle.

You say to yourself, where is the voter fraud that is leading the Republicans now to create new obstacles for voters to face if they want to register to vote? What is the real reason if there are only 77 cases of voter fraud in 24 years? I will tell you. It is for MAGA Republicans to cling to power by rigging the elections in November. It was the same motive when it came to creating new congressional districts for Republicans.

This President is scared to death of what is going to happen when the American people finally get to say the last word on his policies, and so he wants to change the election rules. Hard to imagine. He is very blatant about it. They are not hiding it.

The lead sponsor of the bill, the senior Senator from Utah, said this weekend:

Republicans will lose power--likely for a long time--if we don't get SAVE America passed.

Unless we change the rules on registering and voting, even though there is little or no evidence of fraud and abuse, this Republican Senator who is leading the charge concedes the obvious: It will hurt them in the next election if they fail to pass this bill. They don't think they can win the election fair and square, so they need to change the rules and make it harder for eligible voters.

So what is in this Republican political liferaft that is on the floor? Among the provisions is one that requires all States to obtain proof of citizenship in person--two critical words--in person for people looking to register to vote.

In their bill, a driver's license--the most common form of identification in America--and most REAL IDs would not be enough to register to vote. You need more. You have to prove your citizenship before you can register under the Republican plan. Only birth certificates, passports, or similar documentation would count. Well, let's go through those.

How many Americans actually know where their original birth certificate can be found? And how about those who have a birth certificate with a maiden name--a woman who is married--or are in a hyphenated relationship? What do you do with those documents?

Do you know how many Americans don't have a passport? Almost half of the people living in America have no passport, half of the population. You say to yourself, well, go get a passport; there can't be much to it. Have you tried lately? Do you know what it costs? A hundred and sixty-five dollars. So before you get to vote, you have to write a check for a passport for $165. That applies to 146 million Americans. And how long does it take? Well, I can tell you, people work hard to get out the millions of passports each year, but we are talking about 3 to 4 weeks, in some cases months. If you put an extra 60 bucks on it and make it $225, they will expedite it. That is your poll tax.

Do you want to vote? Do you want to register? Do you have a passport? If you don't, get ready to fork over $165 to over $200 for a passport.

When you consider how long you have to wait, how long you have to wait for the opportunity to have this passport, maybe you are not doing it in time for this election.

That is the Republican plan--make it more bureaucratic and more cumbersome and more confusing despite the fact there is little or no evidence of voter fraud in the United States.

What this amounts to is a modern-day poll tax for a passport.

This bill would also unfairly impact married women who have taken their spouses' names. They would either have to amend their original proof-of-citizenship documents or go through paperwork and bureaucracy to register to vote.

You are going to hear from my Republican colleagues about how this bill has been updated to accommodate people who don't have the required documentation, but the fact remains that unnecessary barriers have been put in place to block access to the ballot for no apparent reason.

Mr. President, 77 cases of voter fraud in 24 years--is that a national scandal? Is that a national crisis? Of course not.

Here is the good news: At this moment, my Republican colleagues in the Senate don't have the votes to pass the bill, so now the question is, Will the majority leader throw out the Senate rules and bend to the President's pressure? I certainly hope not.

If we truly believe, as President Johnson said, that we must not refuse to protect the right of every American to vote in every election that we participate in, then we must reject this terrible legislation which will deny the right to vote to eligible voters across the United States.

The SAVE America Act is an affront to the fundamental right to vote, and I will be voting no.

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, did you hear what the President said about this piece of legislation that is entitled the SAVE America Act--how important it is to him? Earlier this week on social media, President Trump said:

Only sick, demented, or deranged people in the House or Senate could vote against THE SAVE AMERICA ACT.

And then he threatened to sink any Republican who doesn't fall in line. Here is what he said ``I WILL NEVER (EVER!) ENDORSE ANYONE WHO VOTES AGAINST'' this legislation.

What is going on here? What is it about this bill that the President is so aggressive about? Why is he saying these outrageous and exaggerated things? I will tell you: Because this legislation is the crown jewel in a grand scheme to rig the results of the upcoming midterm election.

Some of my Republican colleagues have come to the floor to defend it, saying it is necessary to safeguard our elections. So let's just look at the facts.

Let's pick a period of time. How about from 1999 to 2023--24 years in American history. Every 2 years, we have an election cycle, and 80 to 100,000,000 people are going to register to vote in each of those 2- year cycles.

So in the period of time between 1999 and 2023--24 years--12 different election cycles and millions of people registering to vote in the United States, how many were discovered to be falsifying their country of origin and to be illegal and unqualified to vote? Take a guess. Seven million, right? No. Well, 700,000. No. How about 700? No. Seventy-seven people were found to have tried to falsify where they were from to vote in a 24-year period of time--77 in 24 years.

You say to yourself: And so this bill is a death by legislation for us? Take it or leave it?

I don't buy it. There is something more to the story.

When I got involved in politics, the fellow who used to counsel me said: Durbin, when you get in politics, there is always a good reason and a real reason.

The good reason is voter fraud. But 77 in 24 years? We have the cleanest and most accurate elections in the world. We ought to be proud of it. There is only one man who disagrees with that. He happens to be the President. He still has this Big Lie concept that he won in 2020. He will go to his grave believing he won in 2020, but he didn't. He lost fair and square. He just can't accept defeat. It is beyond him.

So you say to yourself: What does this bill do? Well, what this bill does is establish a standard for registering to vote in America. The current standards generated 77 violations in 24 years. They want to change them all. And you go through the first few pages, and the way they approach it is amazing.

One, if you want to register to vote, present your passport. Well, guess what. More than half of Americans don't have a passport.

You say: Well, go buy a passport then.

What does that involve? There is a $165 fee to pay for a passport in this country. If you want an expedited passport, it is another 60 bucks. So in order to vote, you have to buy a passport, you have to pay for a passport. It is kind of like a poll tax, isn't it? So 165 bucks if I want to vote in November? No, thanks. I will spend it on gasoline. I don't need to buy a passport. But that is what the bill says. It is one of the first provisions.

The second thing you can produce is your birth certificate to show you were born in the United States. Do you know where yours is? I don't know where mine is at home. It is in a box somewhere in the bedroom. I will have to go looking for it. If I find it, I am OK.

My wife has a problem with hers. It has her maiden name on it. She got married to me a few years back--happily, I hope--and she doesn't identify by her maiden name any longer. But to prove she was born here, she is going to have to do some fancy footwork with documents to prove it.

So I looked at this, and the interesting thing is what this is all about. There is a belief in the White House among the political leaders that they are going to do poorly in the November election, so they want to change the rules and they want to keep some people from voting. How do you keep people from voting? Well, you set hurdles up like this.

I will give you an example. We have more support in the African- American community than Republicans do, so if the Republicans want to enhance their chances of winning, they want to diminish the African- American vote.

Let's take a look at a few statistics. When it comes to passports, 42 percent of White Americans have a passport; 34 percent of African Americans. So if you demand a passport as proof to register to vote, it puts them at a slight disadvantage, doesn't it?

How about birth certificates? Well, 6 to 7 percent of all U.S. adults--that is 15 to 18 million--are in a situation where they have no easy access to proof by birth certificate--6 to 7 percent of all U.S. adults, 11 percent when it comes to people of color. What is the problem? Some of them were born in the South. Some were born in segregated hospitals. Some were given a birth certificate and some were not. So there is a slight bias against African Americans when it comes to birth certificates.

Well, how about government-issued photo IDs? Eight percent of White Americans don't have government-issued photo IDs--8 percent--and 25 percent of all African Americans do not.

How about low-income people, who may be inclined to vote for Democrats, perhaps? They are less likely to be able to prove their citizenship than those who are better off.

So it isn't an algorithm; it is a bias that is built into this bill that says it will be less likely that people who are going to vote Democrat are going to register to vote. That is why it is so important to the President. That is why he is threatening members of his party: If you don't vote for it, I will never support you. He feels that strongly about it.

But I don't think it is fair. It is fundamentally unfair. With only 77 cases of voter fraud in 24 years, why in the world are we doing this? Why are we changing the rules? Why are we creating obstacles? Why are we forcing people to spend hundreds of dollars to go buy a passport so they can register to vote?

If you are legally in America--and most people who vote overwhelmingly are--then you shouldn't face these obstacles. That is what this is all about, and it ought to come to an end with a big ``no'' vote on this floor.

I will be voting no. I am sorry the President won't be supporting me, but I am not running again anyway.

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