[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 120 (Monday, July 17, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E999-E1000]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  ONGOING EFFORTS TO SUPPRESS THE VOTE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. TERRI A. SEWELL

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 17, 2017

  Ms. SEWELL of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to bring awareness 
to the Trump Administration's nefarious voter suppression campaign. On 
June 28, a letter from the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election 
Integrity asked states to hand over personal information of voters 
ranging from Social Security numbers to party affiliation.
   As I have stated before, these so called ``election integrity'' 
efforts are a sham, and a ``solution'' that is in search of a problem. 
The Administration's ridiculously inaccurate claim that the President 
lost the popular vote due to millions of undocumented immigrants 
illegally voting is just another false and misleading statement. There 
are no facts that back up the Trump Administration's claims. 
Unfortunately, these false claims are now being used as a justification 
to illegally collect voter information and suppress Americans' sacred 
right to vote.
   Fortunately, these voter suppression efforts by the Trump 
Administration have received bipartisan opposition. When asked if he 
would release his constituents' private information, the Secretary of 
State from Mississippi, Mr. Delbert Hosemann, said that ``they can go 
jump in the Gulf of Mexico, and Mississippi is a great state to launch 
from''. The Secretary of State from my home state of Alabama, Mr. John 
Merrill, has also refused to turn over private information. The 
opposition to this commission is so strong that 44 states have refused 
to turn over this private information.
   If the Trump Administration were truly concerned about the integrity 
of our elections, he would join Congress in condemning Russia for 
interfering in our election and work with our intelligence community to 
prevent future election-related cyber threats.

[[Page E1000]]

   This year, I introduced an amendment to the 2017 Intelligence 
Authorization Act that provides our lawmakers, election officials, 
campaigns, and the public with additional information and resources to 
defend our democracy against emerging cyber threats. Our intelligence 
community warns that if we do not act on this issue, our democracy will 
again fall victim to Russian cyber-threats. The cybersecurity of our 
elections shouldn't be a partisan issue, and I was proud to see the 
House Intelligence Committee take a step forward together by passing my 
amendment.
   We have come too far to allow for voting barriers to be resurrected, 
or to allow our electoral process to be hijacked by a foreign entity. 
We have no choice but to move forward and unite to ensure that every 
citizen of the United States has the opportunity to vote. I call on all 
of my colleagues to condemn the malicious Election Integrity Commission 
created by this administration, and support my bill, H.R. 2978--The 
Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2017 to restore the protections of the 
Voting Rights Act of 1965.

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