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Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, well, I would first like to talk about the voter ID amendment that Senator Thune talked about on the floor.

Today, Leader Thune is going to appease the MAGA far right with another amendment Republicans claim is about commonsense voter ID.

But let's be very clear: This amendment is a giant coverup. It was never in the original bill.

The bill--98, 99 percent of it--is about suppressing voters, about taking them off the voter rolls, unbeknownst to them, so they cannot vote.

The bottom line is very simple: 99 percent of this bill has nothing to do with voter ID--what a voter does when they arrive at a polling place to vote. The vast majority of this bill, the overwhelming bulk, is about suppressing people on the voter rolls--taking them off, not even knowing about it.

And it is a coverup. When the Republicans saw that everyone saw through their so-called voter ID amendment, which is not about voter ID but about suppressing the vote, they got worried. So they added this amendment to the original bill, and now Leader Thune is going to ask for a vote on it.

But it is a coverup to cover up what is a giant voter suppression bill. That is the real purpose. That is what 99 percent or so of this bill does, but they can't say that because it is so devastatingly wrong, unconstitutional, and unpopular with the American people. So they are trying to cover up with this amendment.

Let me talk about the amendment.

Republicans say their amendment is a reasonable approach to voter ID. It is not. It is not true when you look under the hood. What Republicans won't tell you is that, first, this MAGA voter ID proposal is more sweeping and restrictive than every State--every State-- Democrat or Republican.

So Republican Senators, this will make it even harder for people to identify themselves in your States.

This amendment would preempt all State laws and was drafted by a MAGA think tank expert who was part of the Trump 2020 fake elector scheme.

Second, MAGA's voter ID provision would block student, veteran, and other State and Federal IDs.

Can you imagine? You can't use your--under this amendment, you can't use your veteran ID, after you served the country and you want to come back and vote, and you show your voter ID, which has been used for so many different legitimate purposes.

And they say: Nope, it doesn't meet this new law.

Third, Democrats support commonsense voter ID standards. States require varying forms of voter ID, either at registration, at the polls, or both. We support both. We support those.

Democrats' Freedom to Vote Act, from a few years ago, set flexible, comprehensive standards based on West Virginia's then-law for voter ID requirements. It was something I think that Senator Manchin talked about and helped get written into the bill.

Ours is supposed to help people vote by making ID within reach. Theirs is very limiting. It doesn't even allow a soldier's ID as a mechanism.

Our bill--our proposal in the Democratic Freedom to Vote Act--from a few years back, provides flexibility for States and inclusive options for voters. That is a commonsense approach to election integrity and voter access.

This Republican amendment, however, does not. As I said, this is a giant coverup to disguise the real purpose of the SAVE Act, which is to kick 20 million people off the voter rolls, most of them not even knowing that it has happened to them. Department of Homeland Security

Mr. President, now, talking about this bill, Senators continue negotiations to reach an agreement to fund TSA, fund the Coast Guard, FEMA, and CISA, and fund other critical Agencies, while at the same time securing real reforms to rein in ICE.

We had made some modest progress over the weekend, before Donald Trump threw a temper tantrum yesterday, demanding that the SAVE Act be part of any deal to pay TSA workers. Attaching voter suppression to TSA paychecks was an outrageous demand from the start. Democrats knew it. Republicans knew it. And we wasted a day of negotiations because of Donald Trump's temper tantrum. A day may not seem like a lot to the President, but that is another day TSA workers are needlessly waiting for checks, another day of travelers standing for hours at a time at security.

Fortunately, it seems like things are getting back on track this morning. Donald Trump, perhaps realizing that Democrats will block voter suppression in the Senate--the SAVE Act--seems to have gotten over his temper tantrum--we hope, for a little while. With him, you never know.

Republicans can, hopefully, now come back to the table and get serious about reaching a solution to pay TSA workers ASAP.

We await to hear from them in a written proposal that we will review, because, right now, the situation at our airports is untenable. TSA wait times in Houston reached 6 hours at one point over the weekend.

And what does Donald Trump do? He sends ICE agents to the airports. ICE agents don't know the first thing about airport security. They aren't trained to screen travelers. They don't know the layout and protocols of the airports they have been sent to.

And it sounds like ICE agents aren't really doing anything once they get to the airport--many of them. They are just paid to stand around, posted by exits and baggage claims, just people watching.

What is the point? What is the point? As Americans are waiting hours in line at the airport, they are asking each other: Why is Trump paying these ICE agents, who seem to have little to do, instead of using those dollars to pay TSA agents so the lines can go much more quickly? Americans waiting in line are asking those questions.

Just because something popped into Donald Trump's head--put ICE agents at the airports--and his administration just says, ``Yes, sir,'' even though they know it is a ridiculous idea, doesn't mean we should continue.

We should have the TSA paid.

Of course, perhaps, it may not be that security is Donald Trump's main goal in sending ICE to the airports. Listen to this.

Yesterday, in a podcast, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon said Trump should use these agents ``as a test run . . . to really perfect ICE's involvement in the 2026 . . . elections.''

Again, Bannon: Trump should use these agents ``as a test run''--his words--``to really perfect ICE's involvement in the 2026 . . . elections.''

This is bone-chilling. Steve Bannon is saying the quiet part out loud, calling ICE's deployment to airports ``a test run'' for the midterms.

This is how authoritarians turn law enforcement into intimidation forces. This is why Democrats are so intent on reining ICE in.

The disease of undermining elections is rampant in the rightwing of the Republican Party, and it seems they will use any means they can to achieve that goal. They know that Donald Trump and Republicans are in trouble this November, and they will do whatever it takes--legal or not--to prevent a legitimate election.

ICE needs to leave the airports now. Trump needs to pay TSA workers now and push Republicans to reach a deal. No intimidation forces at our airports, no more chaos at checkpoints--enough is enough.

Mr. President, let me just finish with this on vote-by-mail. This morning, the New York Times reported that Donald Trump--who constantly complains about vote-by-mail, who says it is rife with fraud--used vote-by-mail himself in a special election in Florida.

Can you believe it?

According to Donald Trump, vote-by-mail is cheating when other people use it, but perfectly fine when he does it himself. What a hypocrite this man is--what a hypocrite.

Maybe Donald Trump should ask for another amendment to the SAVE Act to create a Presidential exception for mail-in ballots because, apparently, his own rules do not apply to him.

And, of course, the White House is now offering ridiculous excuses, saying: The President is a busy man. He obviously lives in the White House.

This is all nonsense. A single mom with three kids and two jobs is just as busy as Donald Trump, and he is doing everything he can to stop her from voting, while voting by mail himself because he is busy.

Donald Trump goes to Mar-a-Lago almost every weekend. His polling location is less than 15 minutes away by car. If he wanted to vote in person, he easily could. His decision to vote by mail shows just how hypocritical Donald Trump is about fraud and cheating.

That is who he is, I am afraid. That tells you everything. It shows not only Donald Trump's hypocrisy but the complete baselessness of his claims about voter fraud. It shows that the whole point of pushing this bill is to make it harder for people to cast a ballot.

And as I mentioned in the beginning, voting for the Thune amendment along those lines is just a coverup to hide what the bill, the SAVE Act, really does.

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