[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 18789]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               REPUBLICANS FENCING OUT ORDINARY AMERICANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, the Republicans are so concerned about 
their own hides that today they voted to fence off the U.S. 
Constitution from the American people. There is nothing to do with 
borders between the U.S. and Mexico or between the U.S. and Canada. It 
has everything to do with the Republican Party fencing out ordinary 
Americans from participating in their own government.
  Why let everyone vote when they might actually vote for the Democrat 
or for the independent? Democracy is messy for the Republican Party 
these days, so they are going to short-circuit the process. Who needs 
to stay up late to watch the vote returns or worry about exit polls, 
when Republicans have come up with a plan to deny 7 million ordinary 
Americans the right to vote?
  Of course, they have targeted people they don't think will vote 
Republican: the disadvantaged, the disabled, the elderly, Native 
Americans, among others. Republicans like to say they are spreading 
democracy around the world. Here at home, they are using this bill to 
disenfranchise American people.
  Republicans have created a nonexistent crisis because their right-
wing base is unhappy and in need of attention. Today the Republicans 
moved to solve a crisis they created. They want everyone to have an 
official government-issued photo ID before they could vote.
  So much for that Republican line about getting the Federal Government 
out of our lives. The Republicans want the Federal Government in your 
face, snapping pictures. Before you could vote, you would have to 
produce an official government-issued photo ID. A passport would work. 
You know, that is the kind of document that the rich have, because they 
take vacations in other countries. The poor don't take vacations at 
all. No passport, no vote. No problem for Republicans.
  Of course, the Republicans will rush to the podium over here to say 
that you can use your driver's license. They will not tell you that the 
National Commission on Federal Election Reform in 2001 estimated that 
up to 10 percent of Americans eligible to vote do not have official 
State photo ID, like a driver's license; no photo ID, no vote, no 
problem for Republicans.
  Now, in Georgia and Missouri, they tried this. It was thrown out in 
court. So today we do it at the national level. We are going to do it 
for everybody. They will be delighted if ordinary Americans stay home 
on election day. In fact, they would be relieved.
  They know that this bill will encourage it. That is why Republicans 
are behind it 150 percent. It is the latest step in the Republican 
strategy to hold on to power in the election of 2006, even if they have 
to dismantle the democracy to do it. They passed the Help America Vote 
Act, and then amended it to become the Help Republicans Stay in Power 
Act by underfunding the legislation.
  They said they were helping, but they put no money out there. It is 
reminiscent of Florida in 2000. Republicans are building a border fence 
inside our borders to keep the American people out of participating in 
their own government. This bill will prevent millions of people from 
casting a ballot, exactly what the Republicans want.
  Republicans want to replace the fundamental right in America, the 
government of the people, by the people and for the people with 
something else: government of the few, by the privileged and for the 
rich. This is the creed of the Republican 1 percent Party.
  The President of the League of Women Voters, Mary Wilson said, ``This 
is an attempt to politicize the voting process by erecting barriers to 
keep many eligible legal voters from participating. Congress should not 
be playing politics with our right to vote,'' closed quote.
  Yet the Republicans are hijacking the right to vote of an ordinary 
Americans. Why? Because they are afraid of losing power and afraid they 
can't scare the American people into submission any longer. Letting 
every eligible American vote means the American people might actually 
choose the person they want.
  That is something Republicans find truly frightening, so they are 
building a fence to keep the Americans out of America. But the fence 
won't go up in this bill till 2008, so the American people have a mid-
term election ahead. You know what they are up to. You know what they 
want to do.
  But you have a chance to vote, still, everybody has a chance to vote, 
and the people can vote and protect their right to vote by voting 
against people who will put up this kind of legislation. We saw in 2000 
the efforts to keep people away in indirect ways. This is a direct shot 
at Americans' right to vote.

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