[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 97 (Tuesday, June 9, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2677-S2678]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           SECURE AMERICA ACT

  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I was doing a little bit of work this 
past weekend when I was in Tennessee and talking with Tennesseans about 
what is important to them. They are very hopeful that we are going to 
get the price of gas and groceries down.
  During the Biden years, that 9 percent inflation and elevated 
inflation rates every year really hurt the pocketbook. And we all want 
these prices to come down. And, indeed, we are working on making 
certain that life is more affordable. Right now, we have got a lot of 
people that are struggling to make ends meet. So we hear a good bit 
about that at home.
  Another thing we hear about is public safety. People want to feel 
safe and secure in their homes, in their communities, in their States. 
They want to know that their children, as they are out and about and 
working, that they are going to be in a safe environment.
  So, this past weekend, we had many people who mentioned the work we 
did last week with passing the Secure America Act. Now, the good thing 
about this is, it puts the American people first. It is vital 
legislation because it will fund ICE and Border Patrol for the rest of 
President Trump's term, making certain that we are going to have the 
funds that are necessary for Federal law enforcement to go track down 
criminals, stop the flow of drugs and fentanyl into our country, and to 
enforce immigration laws. Those are things that--wrapped into this 
bill--help make every single community safe.
  People want to make certain that people that are in the country 
illegally are deported. They want to make certain that criminal illegal 
aliens are picked up, that they are detained, that they are going to be 
prosecuted for their crimes. They want these illegal alien gangs to be 
apprehended and removed from their communities.
  So passing this bill last week was a victory for the American people. 
This is something they voted for: Close the border; make certain that 
the homeland is safe. And they like the fact that the Senate passed 
this legislation.
  One thing that came up regularly, as I talked to Tennesseans this 
weekend, was, Why did every Democrat vote against this? Not one--not 
one--voted aye. Not one.
  And I would remind them that we saw this as must-pass legislation 
because, for 76 days--76 days--the Democrats had thrown the Department 
of Homeland Security into a shutdown. That is kind of the 2026 version 
of ``defund the police'': Abolish ICE.
  They have not been able to get their way; so they said: Well, we will 
just take away their money.
  Now, I think it is important to note what they do when they act like 
this. Childish? Yes. Ridiculous? Absolutely. Disrespectful? Of course. 
They should listen to themselves and how they sound because the 
American people are listening, and they don't like what they are 
hearing.
  What the Democrats did was to say: OK. We are going to put you in a 
shutdown because we want to abolish ICE. We want to defund law 
enforcement. So it doesn't matter to us that TSA, Secret Service, 
Homeland Security Investigations, FEMA, all of these are going without 
pay. They are going without pay.
  So what we did by passing the Secure America Act is to really slam 
the door on these antics, and Republicans said to the Democrats: Nope. 
We are not going to let you get by with risking these hard-working 
Americans and many times putting their lives at risk.
  I think it is important to note, too, while they object to 
immigration law being enforced, every single immigration law that is on 
the books has been passed by Congress, and it has been signed by a 
President of the United States; some Democrats and some Republicans. 
Every single one. That is how they became the laws.
  But instead of standing with the rule of law, what the Democrats have 
done is to say: We are going to pick and choose some laws we like and 
some laws we don't like. So we are just going to ignore the laws that 
we don't like.
  And when I talk to Tennesseans, they cannot believe that the 
Democrats would put our national security at risk, but that is what 
they have done.
  You know, I have said many times--many times--the Democrats have 
worked overtime during the Biden years trying to find ways to make 
``illegal'' legal because they don't like the law. So then they try to 
find a work-around. And then we know that what they do--circumvent the 
law and try to make an illegal activity legal.
  Now, another area where we have seen this is in the election 
integrity issue. And we support fair, secure, open elections. That 
ought to be a bipartisan issue. We should all want that. We should all 
treasure one person, one vote. And election integrity should be 
something that is at the top of the list.
  Now, part of this is making certain that we ensure that only citizens 
can vote. This is one of those things that is common sense. And you 
know what? It is the law. Only citizens can vote in U.S. elections.
  Now, what has happened is some States have allowed people that are 
illegally in the country or people that are legally here but they are 
on a visa or a work permit or a student visa or they are a legal 
permanent resident--they are not allowed to vote in our elections. But 
in some States, they have been voting.
  So there is a way that States can make certain that it is only a 
citizen that is voting, and that is to compare their voter rolls with 
the Department of Homeland Security's SAVE system, the SAVE database.
  This registry allows Federal, State, and local government Agencies to 
verify the immigration status of anybody in their jurisdiction. It is 
useful when determining whether an individual should be registered to 
vote.
  What we know is that 26 States check their voter rolls against the 
SAVE

[[Page S2678]]

database. Now it probably will not surprise you, it is unfortunate, but 
the 26 States are overwhelmingly red. My State of Tennessee has led on 
this issue for years, and it is ranked No. 1 in this country for 
election integrity.
  Now, thanks to President Trump, the process is easier than ever for 
States to use this registry. Under his leadership--and probably is no 
surprise--under his leadership, our State and local governments can use 
this for free. They do not pay any kind of fee. They can go in here, 
put in the name, the last four digits of the Social Security number--
not all nine, just the last four--and they can see what pops up.
  The good thing is that the States who are doing this--and by the way, 
the States that are using it have submitted more than 46 million 
verification requests through the database, and they are getting 
results from this.
  Texas uses this system, and their secretary of state identified more 
than 2,700 potential voters that were violating the system. They ought 
not to be on the rolls. Ohio discovered more than 1,000 potential 
noncitizens on its voter rolls. More than 160 of them have cast votes 
in elections going back to 2018.
  They are not citizens. They ought not to be voting in our elections.
  Now, for the States, the SAVE database is a commonsense tool to 
ensure the integrity of their elections. Yet, we have got about half 
the States in this country--especially the blue ones--that are not 
taking this basic step to verification.
  When you look at California and New York, between those two States, 
they are estimated to be home to 3.5 million illegal aliens, and we can 
only imagine how many noncitizens are on their voter roll because they 
are taking zero--zero--steps to verify these rolls.
  New Jersey, another blue State, refuses to use the SAVE database. 
Just this week, we learned through public records requests that there 
have been hundreds of cases of noncitizens placed on the State's voter 
rolls in just the last few years. Many had no idea that they were 
registered to vote. Others voted in elections going as far back as the 
year 2000.
  You know, many times, elections are decided by a few votes. Might be 
five or six. Might be a couple hundred. And when you look at the 
numbers--you look at what Texas found; you look at what Ohio found; you 
find out that in New Jersey, that you have got people that have been in 
the country illegally and have been voting since 2000.
  Congress should do everything possible to encourage the States to use 
the SAVE database to secure our elections. The American people do not 
want voter fraud. They want to have confidence in our elections. It is 
the foundation of our system of representative government.
  Now, this is why Senator Graham and I have introduced the Election 
Security Partnership Act. This legislation would provide increased 
grant funding to States that submit their voter registration lists to 
DHS to identify ineligible voter registrations, including for 
noncitizens. It would also improve election administration technology 
and security.
  This is something everyone should do, but they are not doing it. So 
we are saying: All right. We will incentivize you. If you are going to 
get grants that deal with your elective systems, then we will give you 
a plus-up of 10 percent if you will do the right thing and abide by the 
law, if you will verify that the people in your State are voting 
because they are a citizen, if you will guarantee the integrity of your 
voting system.
  You know what? We have got States--they don't want to make it easier 
to vote and harder to cheat; they are looking for the way to cheat. 
They are looking to make ``illegal'' legal. They are looking for ways 
to circumvent the law.
  This is not fair. It is not right.
  Every Member of Congress should support this legislation. Why would 
our colleagues on the other side of the aisle oppose election integrity 
measures? Why would they oppose States cleaning up their voter rolls? 
Why would they oppose being a citizen to register to vote and then when 
you go to the poll show an ID? Prove that you are who you are. Treasure 
that right to vote. It is foundational.
  We have been a free country for 250 years because we value protecting 
our freedom. We believe in robust, respectful, bipartisan debate, and 
we believe in standing with the rule of law.
  I think it is troubling that we have to ask our colleagues: Why? Why? 
Why is it that they do not want to exercise election integrity?

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