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Floor Speech

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Mr. PADILLA. Mr. President, as everybody knows, this last Sunday night, the world watched the people of Hungary achieve something very, very powerful. They voted an autocratic leader out of office. After 16 years of ``illiberal'' democracy, after 16 years of centralized power-- crony capitalism, dismantling freedom of the press, and shredding the rule of law--Hungarian voters overwhelmingly showed up to make their voices heard with nearly 80 percent of voters casting a ballot.

Meanwhile, here we are in the United States of America--in the U.S. Senate--continuing to debate a bill that would make it harder for Americans to make their voices heard in the electoral process.

Here we are, 2 weeks since Donald Trump signed yet another unlawful executive order. His order would make it harder for eligible Americans to register to vote, to stay registered to vote, to exercise their fundamental rights to vote, this time targeting vote-by-mail.

It is absurd; it is unconstitutional; and, most importantly, it is not going to work. American voters will not be silenced.

So he can try rigging the rules of our elections to desperately try to hold on to power, but it is not going to work.

He can try to silence the opposition in the media. It is not going to work.

He can try subverting democracy itself by shrinking the electorate and limiting how people can vote, but it is not going to work because if the No Kings marches are any indicator, the American people know what to do when our rights and our democracy are being attacked.

The American people show up and use every lawful option available to cast a ballot and make their voices heard. We know this because we have seen it before--yes, around the world, like in Hungary this last weekend but also right here in the United States--throughout the course of our history. And I believe strongly that we are going to see it again this November.

Now, throughout our Nation's history, we have steadily worked to expand the right to vote to strengthen our democracy through lawful and inclusive participation, not by trying to further restrict it or further deny access to the ballot.

From the fight for women's suffrage to the struggle against Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Movement overall, each generation has moved us closer to the promise of a more inclusive democracy.

But President Trump and his Republican enablers want to take us backward because with inflation up, the cost of living up, prices at the gas pump up, and our Nation spiraling deeper into an unpopular and unlawful war in the Middle East, Donald Trump sees the writing on the wall.

And if you can't rig the rules of the election, making it harder to register to vote if you are eligible, making it harder to stay registered to vote or actually harder to cast your ballot, then maybe there is a chance that he can hold on to power. That is his only hope.

Now, I know, colleagues, that we have been away for a couple of weeks. It was a State work period last week and the week prior, but here we are, coming back after a couple of weeks. And let me refresh our memories as to what is before us: the SAVE Act and what the SAVE Act specifically does.

First, it requires documents like a passport or an original birth certificate in order to register to vote, documents that tens of millions of Americans don't have readily available. A passport is just one example. Half of American citizens don't have a passport. And so it becomes a barrier to be able to register to vote, let alone trying to cast a ballot in November.

The language of the SAVE Act also says that if your name doesn't match--think about this--there are people who change their names, most typically when people get married and choose to change their names. All of a sudden, the name on your ID no longer matches the name on your birth certificate. So you are going to have to go through some extra bureaucratic hoops to be able to register and participate in our democracy.

Then this bill does more. It forces Americans to register, to update their registration, or to provide proof of citizenship in person if they have been falsely flagged as ineligible, meaning you are going to have to take some time off from work. And maybe the county elections office is near where you live or work or maybe it is quite the distance, but that burden is now on you to continue exercising your fundamental right to vote.

This bill also requires States to turn over their sensitive voter rolls to the Department of Homeland Security. Why? The Department of Homeland Security has nothing to do with election administration. But under this bill, they will run the names and voter information from the States through databases that we already know are flawed and already falsely flag eligible American voters as potential noncitizens.

And when they do that, DHS then communicates to the States orders to remove them from the rolls. This isn't speculation. This is already happening in States that have voluntarily begun this exercise with DHS.

And don't forget, colleagues, the Republican bill attacks vote-by- mail, the same vote-by-mail that 48 million Americans relied on in the last election, the same vote-by-mail that Donald Trump himself repeatedly has utilized as an option to cast his ballot, including a few weeks ago in a special election in Florida.

So Donald Trump thinks voting by mail is safe and secure enough for him but not for the American people? What is with that hypocrisy?

So, in other words--again, this is a refresher; this is a reminder-- the SAFE Act is a bill that makes it harder to register to vote, harder to stay registered to vote, and harder to cast your ballot.

But we know what the goal is. To quote the Legal Defense Fund, which has spoken up on this bill, this is about ``shrinking the electorate and controlling who can vote in America.''

You can try to describe it some other way. You can try to characterize it some other way. But that is the bottom line. But with this bill stalling here in the Senate, President Trump is now trying to take matters into his own hands once again.

His aim is to--his words, not mine--``take over elections'' with this most recent illegal Executive order that I just mentioned. He wants to force States to rely on the Federal list of eligible voters created by the Department of Homeland Security, using those same flawed databases.

And he wants States to hand over not just the voter rolls, now, actual authority for absentee and mail voting to the Trump administration. And if they don't, the U.S. Postal Service won't deliver voters' absentee ballots? That is outrageous.

Let me say that again. If States don't follow Donald Trump's directives, ballots will go undelivered, meaning lawful votes cast legally by U.S. citizens will not be counted.

This order is unconstitutional; it is illegal; and it will not stand. As if that wasn't bad enough, this order goes further. This order threatens criminal penalties for election officials to mail carriers just for doing their job.

Colleagues, the Postal Service is an independent agency, and it is independent for that reason. So they cannot be subject to this Executive order.

The Postal Service is required to deliver all mail, period--including and especially election mail, like mail ballots.

The Constitution is crystal clear about who runs our elections. In case you were wondering where the authority argument comes from, read the Constitution. It is simple: States administer elections, not the President. Congress can have a say in the time, manner, and way elections happen, but it is Congress, the legislative branch, not the President, not the executive branch.

Like the SAVE America Act, this Executive order isn't about securing elections; it is about controlling who gets to participate in them. It is a political move, and it is a power play, and it is based on a false premise. Voting by mail is, indeed, safe. It is, indeed, secure. It is a deeply American tradition that dates back not just a few years or a couple of decades but for well over a century.

Vote-by-mail was used by both Pennsylvania and New Jersey during the War of 1812. Union soldiers voted by mail throughout the Civil War because even in times of war, we should not have our women and men in the armed services sacrifice their fundamental right to vote. During World War II, Japanese Americans held in internment camps voted absentee in the 1942 and 1944 elections.

In 1978, California--my home State of California--became the first State in the Nation to allow no-excuse absentee voting to help more citizens vote securely and vote conveniently. Flash-forward to today. Now 28 States allow no-excuse absentee voting, plus an additional 8 States that have universal mail voting. You add that up, that is a supermajority of the country. Even American astronauts have been able to vote by mail from the International Space Station since 1997.

Yet, despite the years of experience, despite the years of success, despite the years of secure mail-in voting, we are seeing relentless attacks against it by Donald Trump and his Republican allies in Congress because expanding access to the ballot box does not serve those who want to limit participation.

But here is what we all need to remember: You can bring a bill designed to suppress the vote. You can keep signing illegal Executive orders. You cannot and will not stop the American people from voting. You cannot stop them from speaking up, and you cannot turn back the clock on the progress this country has made.

Democrats--we are going to continue to fight voter suppression bills like this one here in Congress no matter how long it takes, and leaders across the country will continue to challenge illegal and unconstitutional orders in the courts. But ultimately the most powerful response will come from the American people themselves this fall at the ballot box because Americans don't sit back or stay at home when their rights are threatened; Americans show up, Americans speak out, and Americans vote. And you can be sure they are going to do so again this November.

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