Ranking Member Morelle Opposes the SAVE Act
Washington, D.C. – Today, Rep. Joe Morelle (NY-25), the top Democrat of the Committee on House Administration, testified in opposition to Republicans’ bill that will erode Americans’ confidence in our safe, secure elections. Click here for the section-by-section and here for the one pager explaining how this bill will not solve any problems American elections face such as chronic underfunding to constant violent threats against election administrators.
Advancing the SAVE Act will make it harder for American citizens to register to vote. For some Americans, voting has been far more difficult than it should be for far too long. Earlier today, Rep. Morelle released a report entitled “Voting for Native Peoples: Barriers and Policy Solutions” that delves into the past, present, and future of Native American voting rights and proposes policy solutions to correct those wrongs.
The following remarks were prepared for delivery before the House Committee on Rules:
“Thank you, Chairman Burgess, Ranking Member McGovern. Thank you to the Members of the Committee. This is my first time back since the four years I spent serving on Rules. And while I wish I was here under different circumstances, I’m grateful to the work you do. So, thank you for having me here today.
“Every American should be absolutely clear about why Speaker Johnson and House Republicans are pushing this bill.
“For all their hysterical rhetoric around the SAVE Act, Republicans have one real purpose here—to continue to erode the confidence of Americans in our election systems. To destroy, in fact, our faith in our democracy itself.
“I cannot imagine a more disgraceful exercise.
“As Members of Congress, we are obligated—we are duty-bound, we swore oaths—to defend the Republic. Not disfigure it.
“This bill is a vehicle for lies, plain and simple. Republicans’ sole objective is to convince Americans, to scare Americans into believing that noncitizens—without a shred of evidence—are going to steal the election from Donald Trump. But Americans are not as naive as Republicans think they are.
“Republicans know—they know—that noncitizen registration and voting in federal elections is already illegal.
“They know that this simply does not happen. The Committee on House Administration has held several hearings on noncitizen voting, and my Republican colleagues could not produce any evidence to back up their claims.
“In fact, Speaker Johnson admitted he had absolutely no proof of noncitizen voting in federal elections.
“But this is not a new project. In 2020, Donald Trump and his allies—many of them here in Congress—tried to deceive Americans about the security of our elections.
“They claimed that absentee ballots would lead to voter fraud. They claimed that extended early voting would lead to voter fraud.
“None of these claims ended up being true. Everyone in this room knows that those claims were false, even if they will not admit as much.
“Republicans’ Stop the Steal claims were lies—as history has shown—but they led to one of the most shameful days in American history.
“The deadly, violent attack on this building on January 6, 2021, should never have happened. Should never, of course, be repeated. But this SAVE Act is a purposeful effort to lay the groundwork—to begin the conspiracy—for another insurrection.
“The former president and his allies thought Americans were gullible enough to believe their lies in 2020. They hope Americans are gullible enough to believe their lies today.
“Americans, however, are smarter than Republicans think.
“This bill will not solve any problems American elections do face—from chronic underfunding to constant violent threats against election administrators.
“What will the SAVE Act do?
“It will, quite simply, disenfranchise millions of eligible American citizens. It will increase the burdens—increase the cost, in both time and money—for any American citizen that wants their voice to be heard.
“This bill would especially burden military voters, tribal voters, rural voters, survivors of natural disasters, and the tens of millions of married women in America who have changed their names.
“The fact that, by advancing the SAVE Act, Republicans will make it harder for men and women in uniform to register to vote shows how misguided this bill is.
“Republicans are clearly telling the American people: They believe that no barrier is too high to place in the way of the ballot; no burden too heavy for Americans to bear if they want to vote.
“The SAVE Act is the most extreme, the most radically conservative election bill in living memory. It will, quite literally, disenfranchise millions of Americans.
“Republicans are doing all of this damage just to help Donald Trump undermine American faith in our democracy.
“As I said before, the American people are not as naive as Speaker Johnson and House Republicans think they are. They proved that in 2020 and they will prove that again this November.
“The tragedy here is that the Republican backers of this bill have such a poor view of their constituents that they are willing lie to them in ways that have already done irreparable damage to our nation.
“In ways that will continue to do untold damage to our nation’s core identity—our elections. Our democracy.
“I wish House Republicans had the courage to stand up and say enough is enough.
“I wish they had the courage to openly debate this damaging bill. Instead, the majority wants to move this legislation under a closed rule—blocking any amendments that could improve this fatally flawed SAVE Act.
“Sadly, I fear, they don’t.
“I yield back.”
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