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Floor Speech
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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today having heard the minority leader talk about the ongoing problem that the country is seeing before their very eyes, which is the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security caused by the Democrats.
Republicans have continually come to the floor to vote to open the Department of Homeland Security, and working with the Democrats, there have been a number of proposals, one of which the Democrats actually agreed to the other day. And yet today, on the floor the Senate, the minority leader said: Oh, no, that is just ``poppycock.'' That was his word.
The Democrats have continued to move the goalposts over all of this time when we were talking about the importance of funding the Department of Homeland Security--a Department that was set up after 9/ 11 to deal comprehensively with our Nation's security.
There are issues of border security, cyber security, flight security. The TSA is part of that. This has gotten so bad. I saw on the news this morning that there are members of the Department of Homeland Security, who are not getting paid, who are working every day, and who are now donating their plasma--not donating it but giving it to get paid.
That is what the Democrats--they talk about getting blood out of it. That is what the Democrats are doing. Blood is on their hands. We are seeing this today with the unfunding of the Department of Homeland Security.
Americans are rising up to say to the Democrats: We care about these people that are working and not getting paid.
My own Rotary Club in Casper, WY, came out today with an email to all the Rotarians. One of the members of the club has offered a matching donation of up to $2,000 for supplies and gift cards to be donated to TSA employees at the airport. Now, these people have been working without pay because of the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.
It says: Please consider supporting the local TSA personnel and help secure the matching donation by donating supplies or gift cards.
It goes on to say: Currently, there are approximately 40 TSA employees in Casper who are not being paid. The airport is collecting food and other supplies--dog food, cat food, toilet paper, et cetera-- because of what we are facing here and with an offer that we have made, and the Democrats are now saying, well, it is all ``poppycock.'' They don't seem to care.
The employees cannot accept cash, cannot accept cash-equivalent cards like Visa gift cards. However, they can accept gas cards and gift cards to places like Walmart or Target, which give them the flexibility to purchase what they truly need.
This is what we are seeing here in this Chamber with what the Democrats are doing because they do not want to fund the Department of Homeland Security that keeps our Nation safe.
Well, there is now circulating, and that it is evident, that the Republicans have all seen, which is a Member of the Senate--a Democrat Member of the Senate--on television telling the Nation--this is a clip where a Member of the Senate says--this is a Democrat--the people we care most about, he says, are ``the undocumented.''
Not these people who are working every day--the people the Democrats care most about are the undocumented, the illegal immigrants, the people who are not citizens of this country but are here and have been unleashed into this country--10 million or more--during the Biden administration.
And that is what we are talking about here today on the floor, and why we will be voting later today on the proposal that the Republicans have made that the Democrats agreed to 2 days ago. But now they have withdrawn their support because, as we hear from a Democrat spokesman and a Democrat Senator, the people that they care most about are not the citizens of the United States; they are the undocumented, the illegal immigrants who are here among us today. SAVE America Act
Mr. President, I have also heard Senate Democrats on this floor say, when it comes to voting, they are open to the requirement of a photo ID. Senator Schumer said, just last week, that his Democrat caucus is not opposed to a photo ID when you show up to vote.
We now have a pending amendment to the SAVE America Act to do just that. It is a straightforward amendment from Senator Jon Husted of Ohio. It simply requires a photo ID when Americans show up to vote.
Democrats blocked this very bill on this floor last week. Then they offered a counterproposal, a nationwide ban--a ban--on photo ID requirements. I mean, it is the exact opposite of what the American people want. I mean, it is hard to believe, but that is what they said. They wanted to ban photo ID. Democrats did this even though 32 States currently require photo ID. So I guess they want to rip it out of all the States that already have it.
Mr. President, 21 Democrat Senators on that side of the aisle in this very Chamber represent States where voter ID is the law of the land.
They live by it. They vote under it. They were even elected under it. Why do Democrats believe that voter ID is fine for their home States but not for our Nation?
We are going to give every single Democrat in this Chamber the chance to go on the record on that very topic. They are going to have the opportunity to show the American people where they stand on commonsense requirements for photo ID.
The vote is a clear yes or no for Democrat Senators. It doesn't touch voter rolls. It doesn't touch mail-in voting. It is a clean up-or-down vote on whether voters should be required to show a photo ID in order to vote.
The bill offers a clear, broad definition of photo IDs. Voters can use a driver's license. They can use State ID. They can use a U.S. passport. They can use a military ID. They can use a Tribal ID. Those are identifications Americans carry with them every single day. They use it to cash a check, to board a plane, to buy a beer. People use it every day. It is just common sense.
Asking for a photo ID at the ballot box is common sense and a common practice in States all across the country.
As I said earlier, 36 States require or request an ID to vote. Of these 36 States, 32 require a photo ID. That is most of the country. And yes, that includes Democrat States. Of course, we know that there are many large and liberal States that lack voter ID laws--sanctuary States like California, New York, Oregon, Illinois--and they don't protect the voter rolls.
So, once again, we are seeing Democrats angling for illegal immigrants to have an impact on our elections. Why is that? As I said earlier, the people we care most about, the undocumented. He said, the illegal immigrants who are here among our Nation.
That is who the Democrats will tell you they care most about, not law-abiding citizens but illegal immigrants.
Democrats allowed 10 million illegal immigrants. They flooded in the country. The lesson is clear. We cannot allow illegal immigrants to undermine and erode the integrity of our elections. That is why we are in this shutdown right now because of the Democrats' preference of illegal immigrants over American citizens and the safety and security of our Nation.
But adding photo ID requirements would be a significant step toward restoring confidence in elections in all 50 States.
So I want to thank Senator Jon Husted of Ohio. Senator Husted knows exactly about administering elections, and he knows it better than any Member of this body. He spent 8 years as Ohio's secretary of state. His job was to run fair, safe, and secure elections; and he succeeded at it.
He knows how to do it. He knows what works. And he succeeded in one of the most closely watched battleground States in our Nation. His amendment makes it easy to vote, harder to cheat, and it does so nationwide.
A clean, simple photo ID amendment leaves Democrats with no excuses. They can't claim photo ID is too hard. They can't claim it is too confusing. They can't claim it is too burdensome.
The question before the Senate is, Will Democrats take a reasonable and responsible step toward what most Americans consider common sense?
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