[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 48 (Tuesday, March 17, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Page S1149]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            SAVE AMERICA ACT

  Mr. MORENO. Madam President, I thought I would give my colleague from 
California some fantastic news. There are so many times in politics we 
hear bad news, but I am going to give him good news. When he takes a 
moment to read the actual bill, you don't have to read much. You just 
go right to page 1.
  It says:

       Ensuring Only Citizens Are Registered to Vote in Elections.

  It says right here, at the bottom, that you can provide any of the 
following. I am not a lawyer, but I assume ``any'' is a pretty 
comprehensive word that means ``any.''
  It says:

       A form of identification issued consistent--

  Let me read this slowly--

     consistent with the requirements of the Real ID Act of 2005.

  He just stated that the Real ID does not count. On page 2, lines 1 
through 4, a Real ID absolutely does count as voter ID.
  The idea that asking somebody to prove they are a U.S. citizen one 
time when they register to vote and to show who they are every time 
they vote is basic common sense. Now, it is not common in California 
because, in California, they don't require that.
  My Democrat colleague is walking out of the Chamber as I say this, 
but I also would have liked him to have heard even better news--even 
better news--which is that you can go to Ohio and get gas for a $1.75 
less than in California. Why? Because of California's ridiculous 
policies. That is what is driving the price of fuel up for his 
constituents.
  Where is the price of gas right now that he was railing about? 
Twenty-one cents a gallon less than it was at the end of the Biden 
administration.
  I know we get into a lot of arguments here, and I know I am going to 
have my amazing colleague from Utah go further into this bill, but I 
just wanted to very briefly debunk two very simple things: California's 
problems are California's causing. The reason your gas prices are high 
is because you have basically banned all fossil fuels in your State 
while begging--by the way, do you want to know how California gets gas 
today? It leaves the port in Jacksonville on a ship. It goes to the 
Bahamas. It gets unloaded from that ship onto another ship. It then 
traverses from the Bahamas, by the way, off the coast of Florida. It 
goes all the way around the Panama Canal and disembarks in California. 
Why? Because they refuse to have a pipeline go through their State. 
That is why the price of oil is high in California. It has nothing to 
do with what is going on in the Middle East, but yet we digress.
  We are here to talk about two simple things: Should you have to prove 
you are a citizen when you register to vote and should you have to 
prove that you are who you are when you actually cast a ballot?
  With that, I yield the floor to my colleague from Utah, who will go 
into the 28 pages of common sense that is in a very well-written bill.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.

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