thanks so much Rick uh look um no Corporation would hold a shareholder vote in which non- shareholders were allowed to vote when you board a plane when you get a marriage license a hunting or a fishing license you pick up a prescription you go to the doctor you do all sorts of things that Americans do every day you're required to show a form of ID that does a couple things it allows you to prove who you are because proving who you are identifying who you are May determine whether or not you're available to do you're you're eligible to do that thing whether or not you're the person uh whose name is on that prescription uh whether or not you're the same person whose name is on the airplane ticket you have to prove that it would be insane for us not to have any similar requirement uh attached to one of our most fundamental activities in our Republican democracy which is the right to vote um you look at almost every country worldwide they require some sort of identification in order to do that now what we're talking about here is the identification required in order to cast a vote in a federal election we as a federal lawmaking body typically don't have authority over state and local elections but we do have some authority over Federal elections an existing federal law prohibits non-citizen voting a lot of people as Rick scottt mentioned think that's the end of the inquiry that's no more the end of the inquiry than it would be to say well it's already illegal to kill somebody uh with a gun therefore we don't need any laws whatsoever regarding uh I don't know your ability to prove your age and identi identity and your status as a non- felon before buying a gun that's absurd current federal law is made almost impossible to enforce on this front in other words when we look at that law the existing federal law that says you may not as a non-citizen vote in a federal election it's been made very very difficult by a couple of factors number one in passage in 1993 of the national voter registration act which allows people uh in in all states in fact requires States uh when you go in to apply for a driver's license uh uh to be offered up a form would you like to register to vote and once that happens you fill that out and by checking a box and signing your name you can in one Fell Swoop apply for a driver's license and register to vote in federal elections in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia you can get a driver's license even if you are a non-citizen in 19 States you are able to get a driver's license even if you are an illegal alien so in all those circumstances when you apply for the driver's license by checking a box and signing your name you can register to vote which exactly what why some of these states that have looked at it like Texas found 6,500 U non-citizens just through their initial review of some of their voter registration files I don't even know if they went through all of them 6,500 non-citizens who were registered to vote known non-citizens of those nearly a third 1,930 had previously voted in one or more elections so this is simply false to say because it's illegal it can't happen and in fact it doesn't happen that is not true now the need for this is made even more pronounced when you consider the impact of a Supreme Court ruling just a few years ago a majority opinion issued by Chief Justice John Roberts uh in a in a case dealing with an Arizona policy concluded wrongly in my view that the 1993 National voter registration act actually precludes the state from asking for any kind of proof of citizenship even if they know or suspect that the person is a non-citizen that they cannot ask for anything else so this is intended to plug that hole as's an additional consideration here that makes this especially timely especially necessary now more than at any other time in American history that I'm familiar with we have very large number of non-citizens in this country an estimated 30 million or so of those we know that we've got at least 10 million or so who have entered illegally into into the United States in the last 3 and a half years alone now with something approaching 10% of our nation's population consisting of non-citizens coupled with the Supreme Court ruling wrongly in my view interpreting but interpreting nonetheless the national voter registration Act is precluding the States from asking for that coupled with the fact that in all 50 states plus DC a non citizen can easily apply for registering to vote while getting a drver license and the fact that the state can't ask anything beyond that the save Act is absolutely necessary look um we all know that elections including and especially presidential elections tend to be decided within u a pretty narrow range in fact within a few States and very often within just a few counties Nationwide and uh it would be Folly for us to leave open this vulnerability now there are those finally who will make the argument against this this is um unnecessary for the additional reason that it's too late for it to do any good absolute utter nonsense science fiction fantasy that is not true that it would do no good uh let me explain briefly why in 22 States so nearly half of all voting jurisdictions in America you were allowed to register to vote up to and including election day same day voter registration therefore there a number of people who may not have uh uh applied to register to vote so far under the nvra who could do so up to and including the day of the election in addition to those 22 States uh uh many other states allow voter registration to continue up until some moment prior to election day and finally uh this bill has within it a criminal penalty that is uh that would attach to anyone who knowingly registers a non-citizen to vote in a federal election the combined deterrent effects of these makes this bill not only helpful but eminently necessary and the reason we need to attach this to the spending bill has everything to do with the fact that this is the last train leaving the station between now and election day if Americans are going to remain in control of their own government for heaven's sakes we should let only Americans vote in our elections thank you uh Bron Johnson you're up next oh