During a debate on the House floor on Thursday, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) spoke in support of the then proposed SAVE Act, which requires voters to present proof of citizenship when registering to vote.
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Thanks, Speaker. I want to thank the chairman for his strong work and commitment to election integrity and to working with us on this bill in particular, the SAVE Act. He's done an extraordinary job, and I'm proud to work with him and work with the rest of my colleagues on it. I'm proud to work with my friend, Cleta Mitchell, who had a significant hand in what we're doing here.
00:22I'm quite certain that she is pretty well aware of protecting the right of females to be able to vote, along with my friend Stephanie Bice and Mary Miller and Laurel Lee and Lauren Boebert and Kat Kamak, all of whom who came down to the floor in full support of this legislation, because they know the truth.
00:45They know the truth that the American people know, which is that as much as my colleagues on the other side of the aisle want to bring up the DMV, the American people know that the DMV is very good at giving driver's license to illegal aliens, because we know it to be true.
01:01We know that there are people who have been indicted for voting illegally. We know that there are voter rolls with massive numbers of people who are illegally present in the United States.
01:11We know that the previous administration let in millions of people into the United States wrongfully and illegally under parole and asylum, blatantly abusing the law to put people in the United States that have no basis for being here,
01:25many of whom carried out dangerous acts against American people, many of whom carried out dangerous acts against American people, killed American citizens, but importantly, have been registering to vote.
01:33That's what's been happening.
01:35So what we understand is the American people have spoken very clearly that they believe only American citizens should vote in American elections.
01:47There's nothing controversial about that.
01:49There's nothing controversial about saying that you should be able to ensure that only citizens vote.
01:57And let's be very clear.
01:59Federal law has currently been interpreted to prohibit states from being able to check citizenship.
02:10That's the truth.
02:12That's why the state of Arizona, for example, has two systems, one for state and local, one for federal.
02:19The good people of Arizona have two systems in place.
02:33They check for citizenship for state and local elections, and they're unable to check for citizenship in federal elections.
02:42The point of this bill is to ensure that we guarantee only citizens vote by allowing those states to be able to check, by having systems, federal systems, be open to the states to be able to check, and to require proof of citizenship when you register.
03:00There's nothing complex about that.
03:02There's nothing more sacred under the Constitution than ensuring that the people are able to have the voice in the election of the people that represent them in Washington and throughout the country.
03:18Once that is undermined, then people lose faith in the very institutions upon which this is built.
03:28This legislation is designed to restore that faith, to save our elections, to save election integrity.
03:35I'm proud to have worked on this bill with my friend, the chairman, with my colleagues on this side of the aisle.
03:45And I would note that five of my Democrat colleagues joined us last summer to vote for this bill.
03:52Hardly a partisan exercise, hardly a partisan exercise, hardly a partisan exercise to say that we should protect the elections of the American people.
04:05So I urge my colleagues to support this bill, to restore confidence and faith in our elections, to take a step forward in ensuring that people know that citizens will be in control of this republic as the founders intended.
04:20And I yield back.
04:20Gentlemen, gentlemen.
04:21Gentlemen.