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Floor Speech

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Mr. BUDD. Mr. President, I rise today on behalf of 80 percent of Americans, including millions of North Carolinians who are asking Congress to ensure that only Americans can vote in American elections.

The charge here, it is really that simple, but I find it ironic that we are once again debating an 80-20 issue because my Democrat colleagues refuse to accept the stance held by an overwhelming majority of their own constituents.

Staging political theater on such commonsense issues, it has really become routine for Democrats. Let's take, for example, a few things: keeping our borders wide open, opposing the deportation of dangerous criminals, defunding the police, backing radical gender ideology for children, and allowing biological men to compete in women's sports.

And, like clockwork, here we are again, but this time my colleagues across the aisle are refusing to keep our elections fair, transparent, and secure by requiring proof of citizenship to register and have voter ID at the polls. Over 70 percent of Democrats across our country-- Democrats--believe that voter ID should be required, but it seems that Senate Democrats couldn't care less.

And why is that? Because instead of accepting the will of the people that they represent, Senate Democrats have chosen to dig their heels in on their failed campaign as the party of open borders and illegal immigration.

By opposing the SAVE America Act, Senate Democrats are telling the American people, loud and clear, that they don't care about preserving the right to vote for American citizens because of their political agenda, which props up illegal immigrants over working-class Americans.

My Democrat colleagues should understand that it is a Federal offense for any noncitizen to vote in a Federal election. Providing proof of identification is a basic security measure, and everyone knows that.

When you board an airplane, you go to the doctor, you start a new job, or even if you get a library card, you are required to show proof of government identification.

In North Carolina, we require every voter to show a government ID before voting. Twenty-three other States already have this same voting law on their books, and nearly every European country has voter ID laws in place. And why? Because power in a democratic society is vested in the will of the people, and that fundamental right to self- determination must be protected at all cost.

I want to address a misleading claim that my Senate colleagues across the aisle continue over and over and over to repeat. Senate Democrats claim that the SAVE America Act would somehow disenfranchise millions of Americans, and that is just false.

This legislation does not target any American citizen eligible to vote; instead, it protects them. The SAVE America Act ensures that only U.S. citizens participate in Federal elections by requiring States to maintain accurate voter rolls and stopping noncitizens from voting. That is not disenfranchisement.

But, at its core, this bill is about restoring trust. The American people deserve to have confidence in our Federal elections, and they deserve peace of mind to know that their right as American citizens to determine the future of our country is not diluted by noncitizens meddling in our democratic process. The SAVE America Act puts the integrity of our Republic first again.

President Trump--he has been a steadfast champion of voter ID, and he has encouraged Congress to move this legislation forward because the state of our Nation depends upon protecting the power of the people, and I agree with the President. Ensuring that certainty in our Federal elections, it really shouldn't be controversial at all.

But every single time President Trump supports a policy, no matter how logical it is, Democrats draw a hard line in the sand and they oppose it. Common sense and deciding policy based on the merit of its principles seems right now to mean nothing to Senate Democrats because they refuse to come to the negotiating table to responsibly lay out their concerns and negotiate in good faith.

And when I travel to all 100 counties in North Carolina, I hear the same frustration. Americans see Congress stuck in gridlock with negotiation replaced by partisan stonewalling. I think the American people deserve better.

I am all for having passionate disagreements, you know, but a friendly debate, it is just as American as it gets. But discord should never be an excuse for obstruction, and partisan games are no substitute for responsible governance.

That is not what Americans sent us here to do. We must listen to the 80 percent of Americans calling on us to restore trust in our Federal elections by ensuring that only citizens can vote.

The American people, they didn't send us here to posture. They sent us here to legislate, and legislating requires setting aside partisanship, returning to common sense, and doing what is best for the country and not what is politically self-serving.

So I hope my colleagues across the aisle--that they will listen to the overwhelming majority of Americans, Republicans and Democrats, calling for action and vote to pass the SAVE America Act now.

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