1 00:00:19,199 --> 00:00:22,960 Speaker 1: And we are back with another edition of the Federalist 2 00:00:23,120 --> 00:00:26,719 Radio Hour. I'm Matt Kittle, senior elections correspondent at the 3 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:31,600 Federalist and your experienced Shirpa on today's quest for Knowledge. 4 00:00:32,119 --> 00:00:34,920 As always, you can email the show at radio at 5 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:39,079 the Federalist dot com, follow us on ex at FDR LST, 6 00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:43,039 make sure to subscribe wherever you download your podcast, and 7 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:46,759 of course to the premium version of our website as well. 8 00:00:47,479 --> 00:00:51,520 Our guest today is Thomas Lane, America First Policy Institute's 9 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:57,759 director of Election Integrity and American Justice Campaign Director. What's 10 00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:02,240 next for the Save Act? Now facing a perilous journey 11 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:06,040 in the US Senate. That's what we're talking about. And Thomas, 12 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:08,000 thank you so much for joining us on this edition 13 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:09,200 of the Federalist Radio Hour. 14 00:01:09,879 --> 00:01:11,519 Speaker 2: Thanks for having me. Matt, great to be here. 15 00:01:12,079 --> 00:01:15,480 Speaker 1: Let me begin with this. You know your way around 16 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:19,159 this Congress, particularly the House, and you know the power 17 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:23,079 players in the Senate. Talk me down here, Thomas. I 18 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:26,480 don't have a lot of faith in the Republican controlled 19 00:01:26,519 --> 00:01:31,879 Senate that the Save America Act or its predecessor, the 20 00:01:31,959 --> 00:01:38,079 Save Act, will actually come to a vote. But what 21 00:01:38,200 --> 00:01:41,480 you're thinking at this point well, I. 22 00:01:41,439 --> 00:01:43,680 Speaker 2: Think you have been through enough and we've all seen 23 00:01:43,799 --> 00:01:46,760 enough to have some skepticism when it comes to any 24 00:01:46,879 --> 00:01:50,239 kind of sixty vote threshold in the Senate. I know 25 00:01:50,280 --> 00:01:53,760 Republicans get a lot of blame whether they have fifty 26 00:01:53,799 --> 00:01:56,040 three or fifty two or fifty one, depending on who 27 00:01:56,040 --> 00:01:58,519 you call a Republican, but obviously not with that magic 28 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:00,480 number sixty. So what's going to have up and with 29 00:02:00,959 --> 00:02:03,599 a bill in the Senate, particularly the same America Act 30 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:06,560 which did pass the House to eighteen to two thirteen 31 00:02:06,599 --> 00:02:10,080 a couple of days ago, with all Republicans and one 32 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:14,800 loan Democrat, Henry Koyar from Texas. But there is a 33 00:02:14,919 --> 00:02:18,240 path I think most people know to get a bill 34 00:02:18,319 --> 00:02:22,159 through the Senate without sixty votes, to have fifty plus 35 00:02:22,159 --> 00:02:25,280 the Vice President's vote or fifty one a simple majority, 36 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:28,120 and that's to break the filibuster. Now, I don't think 37 00:02:28,159 --> 00:02:31,120 anyone on the Republican side is talking about breaking the philibuster. 38 00:02:31,159 --> 00:02:34,719 There's another procedural path that's being talked about to get 39 00:02:34,759 --> 00:02:38,479 this to a vote, and that's what they called standing filibuster. 40 00:02:39,159 --> 00:02:42,639 And it's effectively what you can imagine it is, which 41 00:02:42,719 --> 00:02:46,159 is making the Democrats talk for so long and stand 42 00:02:46,159 --> 00:02:50,639 for so long, and defend their positions for so long 43 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:54,719 weeks on end that eventually it is able to be 44 00:02:54,719 --> 00:02:56,960 brought to a vote and a simple majority vote without 45 00:02:56,960 --> 00:02:59,439 breaking what we all know is the filibuster, which was 46 00:02:59,479 --> 00:03:03,000 broken for things like judicial nominations, where a Supreme Court 47 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:06,639 nominee can be sent through and nominated and approved by 48 00:03:06,639 --> 00:03:09,360 the Senate with a simple majority vote. So that is 49 00:03:09,719 --> 00:03:14,719 the basic believe it or not, explanation of the path forward. 50 00:03:14,719 --> 00:03:16,800 But I'm happy to go deeper into detail. 51 00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:19,759 Speaker 1: And we will, indeed, But let's talk about what this 52 00:03:19,919 --> 00:03:22,240 is all about. Really, at the end of the day, 53 00:03:22,919 --> 00:03:27,360 this is about election security, This is about election integrity. 54 00:03:27,439 --> 00:03:34,159 These are basic election integrity bills. They ask what the 55 00:03:34,199 --> 00:03:37,360 majority of Americans want to see in the vast majority 56 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:41,319 of Americans at that They ask that those who want 57 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:45,439 to vote in our elections verify that they are a 58 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:49,000 US citizen to vote in federal elections when they register. 59 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:50,560 Speaker 2: It also. 60 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:57,120 Speaker 1: Includes voter ID at the polls. Again, this is an 61 00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:01,960 eighty twenty issue. Of course, Democrats Chuck Schumer in the 62 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:07,879 Senate as the minority leader, calling this uh hyperbolic terms 63 00:04:07,879 --> 00:04:10,879 to say the very least that this is Jim Crow 64 00:04:11,039 --> 00:04:13,800 two point zero and all of these sorts of things, 65 00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:17,079 and of course they have their good friends in the 66 00:04:17,079 --> 00:04:22,439 accomplice media to push this very false equivalen see but 67 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:28,319 how much how much damage can Democrats actually do to 68 00:04:28,519 --> 00:04:31,040 this bill? Have they done to this build or in 69 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:34,079 house debate? And how much damage have they done to 70 00:04:34,120 --> 00:04:35,959 themselves during this debate? 71 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:39,240 Speaker 2: Those are all great questions. I want to bring everyone 72 00:04:39,319 --> 00:04:43,079 back a few years to in Georgia, past their election 73 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:46,720 Terry Bill SP. Two two, and that bill is called 74 00:04:46,759 --> 00:04:49,319 the same thing, Jim Crow two point zero. Then President 75 00:04:49,399 --> 00:04:52,360 Biden famous to call it Jim Eagle because an eagle 76 00:04:52,399 --> 00:04:55,040 is better than a crow. And that's right, that's right. 77 00:04:55,079 --> 00:04:58,480 The Major League Baseball's All Star Game was actually moved 78 00:04:58,639 --> 00:05:03,160 from Atlanta, Colorado, a state that actually has more quote 79 00:05:03,199 --> 00:05:06,160 unquote restrictive voting laws than even Georgia was trying to 80 00:05:06,319 --> 00:05:10,519 put forward. But obviously logic and reason and truth don't 81 00:05:10,519 --> 00:05:14,680 matter to the other side. So the harm has shown 82 00:05:14,920 --> 00:05:18,519 to be effective, and they can call something racist, they 83 00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:22,879 can call senators racist, and especially in a midterm year 84 00:05:22,959 --> 00:05:26,319 where many of these people, these senators are on the ballot, 85 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:31,439 those attacks that to me are tried and old. They're 86 00:05:31,519 --> 00:05:36,560 still effective now through a standing filibuster for two three fourth, 87 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:40,360 you know, six weeks even could that messaging just fall 88 00:05:40,399 --> 00:05:44,120 into deaf ears eventually with American people, That's my guess. 89 00:05:44,160 --> 00:05:47,720 But we really have to think about is the Senate 90 00:05:47,759 --> 00:05:49,439 willing to do that? And it goes to the original 91 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:54,279 question of our Republicans willing to for what you said 92 00:05:54,319 --> 00:05:57,040 an eighty twenty issue. I think CNN even put out 93 00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:02,480 a poll this past week where they asked respondents should 94 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:07,759 citizenship be verified at voter registration? And that was an 95 00:06:07,759 --> 00:06:11,759 eighty three percent yes. It's crazy to me that seventeen 96 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:13,839 percent of people say no, you don't have to be 97 00:06:13,879 --> 00:06:16,680 an American systant to vote in American elections. But the 98 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:19,160 fact of the matter is, I believe it was something 99 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:22,439 in the ninety percent range for Republicans said yes, and 100 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:25,639 even seventy something percent of Democrats said yes. That's the case. 101 00:06:25,639 --> 00:06:28,480 And to your point as well about photo voter ID, 102 00:06:28,639 --> 00:06:30,600 because those are the two issues that we're talking about here, 103 00:06:30,639 --> 00:06:33,199 is first verifying that you're an American citizen when you 104 00:06:33,279 --> 00:06:35,040 register to vote, and then when you do go to 105 00:06:35,120 --> 00:06:38,120 actually vote that you present a photo voter ID, something 106 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:44,920 that even the most third world countries have these basic guidelines, 107 00:06:44,959 --> 00:06:50,759 these basic standards that are overwhelmingly popular with the American people. 108 00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:54,480 So it doesn't quite make sense to me why the 109 00:06:54,519 --> 00:06:58,240 Democrats would stake their claim on this. But then again, 110 00:06:58,319 --> 00:07:01,560 we're about to go into what third shutdown in the 111 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:05,120 past six months, and they know that for the most part, 112 00:07:05,199 --> 00:07:08,600 people will blame Republicans no matter what happens, because, look, 113 00:07:09,079 --> 00:07:10,920 it is true that the Republicans have a house, the 114 00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:13,600 Senate and the White House, but what I think people 115 00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:18,480 don't understand is that sixty vote threshold that we Republicans. 116 00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:21,439 If you're a Republican, you say, we we need Democrat 117 00:07:21,519 --> 00:07:25,040 help here with so many and we have what some 118 00:07:26,319 --> 00:07:29,279 Republican senators who don't want to name names, but maybe 119 00:07:29,279 --> 00:07:33,319 they hail from Alaska Remain or Kentucky, who are not 120 00:07:33,399 --> 00:07:35,319 going to side with their own party in these things. 121 00:07:35,319 --> 00:07:38,720 So it's a very difficult hoop to jump through. And 122 00:07:39,639 --> 00:07:44,199 Senate Majority Leader Thune has promised, I know, in these 123 00:07:45,399 --> 00:07:48,319 negotiations with the second shutdown that just ended what last 124 00:07:48,319 --> 00:07:50,720 week or a couple weeks ago, with the White House 125 00:07:50,759 --> 00:07:53,199 and specifically with their House Freedom Caucus said hey, we 126 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:56,399 will bring this to a Florida vote. And I think 127 00:07:56,720 --> 00:07:59,199 the senators are if there's one thing that senators don't 128 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:00,560 like to do, and that's actually work and be on 129 00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:03,240 the floor and do what they're elected to do. So 130 00:08:03,720 --> 00:08:06,279 that is we're all in that section. 131 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:11,399 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, you know, we'll get to those three unnamed 132 00:08:11,480 --> 00:08:14,120 senators just a bit. You know, i'd have to. But 133 00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:19,839 you know, you talk about seventeen percent of Americans are 134 00:08:19,959 --> 00:08:26,319 against verification of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. 135 00:08:26,519 --> 00:08:32,200 I believe that just about every Democrat member of Congress 136 00:08:32,440 --> 00:08:38,279 is in that category. Why why are these Democrats? And again, 137 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:41,720 as a mediocre attorney, and I'm not an attorney, but 138 00:08:42,399 --> 00:08:46,080 I know the answer to this question. I've been covering 139 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:49,240 this election integrity issue for a very long time. Now, 140 00:08:49,639 --> 00:08:53,519 why is it the Democrats don't want this basic election 141 00:08:53,639 --> 00:08:55,320 integrity security measure? 142 00:08:57,120 --> 00:08:58,480 Speaker 2: I think you and I would come up with the 143 00:08:58,519 --> 00:09:04,200 same response to this. I think what anyone who spends 144 00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:07,039 a few seconds thinking about the last four years of 145 00:09:07,159 --> 00:09:12,039 President Biden's administration and what now President Trump has fought 146 00:09:12,039 --> 00:09:16,559 for the last year or so is with the illegal immigration, 147 00:09:16,679 --> 00:09:18,799 the border crossings and depending on the number that you 148 00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:24,000 look at, you have ten fifteen twenty million illegal border 149 00:09:24,120 --> 00:09:28,120 crossings during that four years. And if you had to guess, 150 00:09:28,279 --> 00:09:32,679 the logical conclusion is that the Democrats to stay in 151 00:09:32,759 --> 00:09:35,440 power and we can get into a redistricting fire Jerry 152 00:09:35,519 --> 00:09:39,200 Mannering discussion it if we want. But you see that 153 00:09:39,559 --> 00:09:43,720 for years, whether we're talking about Massachusetts and the official 154 00:09:44,440 --> 00:09:48,600 origin of Governor Jerry at the time Jerry Manner of 155 00:09:48,840 --> 00:09:51,879 making the districts the way they were in Massachusetts to Illinois. 156 00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:55,879 Now and this fight that has been so comfortable for 157 00:09:55,879 --> 00:10:00,480 the Democrats to squeeze out Republicans from their seeds is 158 00:10:00,639 --> 00:10:03,159 they care about one thing, and it's power. It's staying 159 00:10:03,159 --> 00:10:06,200 in power. They don't they don't have the interests of 160 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:09,519 the American people at heart. It's to stay in power 161 00:10:09,519 --> 00:10:12,120 as long as they can. And so to directly answer 162 00:10:12,159 --> 00:10:15,240 your question of why would all those Democrats senators be 163 00:10:15,279 --> 00:10:19,080 in that seventeen percent of this overwhelmingly popular issue to 164 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:22,639 verify citizenship at registration and to have a photo voter ID. 165 00:10:23,559 --> 00:10:25,039 It's all about power. 166 00:10:26,279 --> 00:10:30,720 Speaker 1: Yeah, it really is. And it's the consolidation of power 167 00:10:30,759 --> 00:10:35,240 that they've been on and absolutely there is a desperation 168 00:10:35,679 --> 00:10:39,480 among Democrats. They're fired up. You know, they've hated Trump. 169 00:10:39,519 --> 00:10:43,799 They've lived with the affliction of Trump derangement syndrome for 170 00:10:44,240 --> 00:10:46,960 a very long time now, the better part of the 171 00:10:47,039 --> 00:10:51,600 last decade in this country. And so I fear that 172 00:10:51,639 --> 00:10:55,840 they are willing to do just about anything, and I 173 00:10:55,960 --> 00:11:03,720 mean anything to reduce Donald Trump's power in the executive branch. 174 00:11:03,799 --> 00:11:07,799 Obviously they've done a number of things already. But if 175 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:13,039 they can control the House, that is, they've already said it. 176 00:11:13,080 --> 00:11:15,320 I mean, there's no secret to this. They're going to 177 00:11:15,360 --> 00:11:19,440 impeach him for whatever reason they know they can come 178 00:11:19,519 --> 00:11:23,399 up with. If they do have the Senate, well that 179 00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:27,080 makes things even more complicated. But at the end of 180 00:11:27,120 --> 00:11:32,200 the day, you're absolutely right, this is about power. But 181 00:11:32,320 --> 00:11:38,200 will the American people ultimately see through that, particularly with 182 00:11:38,279 --> 00:11:39,559 this issue. 183 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:43,159 Speaker 2: That's an excellent question. It's what we hear at the 184 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:46,039 American purst Policy Institute are fighting every day to help 185 00:11:46,240 --> 00:11:50,759 educate voters in the public of what happens when one 186 00:11:50,799 --> 00:11:54,919 side gets elected. I mean, look at Virginia just this 187 00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:58,919 past November a few months ago, where now Governor Spanberger, 188 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:03,200 who came from the House under a Keem Jeffrey's leadership 189 00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:05,399 on the Democrats side gets elected, and she's seen as 190 00:12:05,440 --> 00:12:11,440 a moderate mom, not a DC insider, former CIA agent 191 00:12:11,639 --> 00:12:14,840 who's going to weaponize the government, weaponize the political process 192 00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:16,879 against her political opponents. Which is what you hit on 193 00:12:17,240 --> 00:12:21,919 with what exactly House Democrats and god forbid, a Democratic 194 00:12:21,960 --> 00:12:24,960 Senate would do for the last for the remaining two 195 00:12:25,039 --> 00:12:29,879 years of a President Trump administration. They wield the power 196 00:12:29,960 --> 00:12:33,720 and then immediately will go against everything that they say, 197 00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:36,879 for example that Texas is doing for their registrating, which 198 00:12:36,919 --> 00:12:40,240 by the way, started because the Biden DOJ had sued 199 00:12:40,320 --> 00:12:43,440 Texas to change their maps, and so Texas changed the maps. 200 00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:45,919 And yet that is used as the baseline for why 201 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:50,399 California needs to pass Prop fifty to completely throw away 202 00:12:50,399 --> 00:12:53,759 their constitutional process to have what a forty nine to 203 00:12:53,759 --> 00:12:58,639 nothing map. And now in Virginia you're seeing the Governor 204 00:12:58,840 --> 00:13:03,600 smamber first signature on a bill to go from moderate 205 00:13:03,639 --> 00:13:07,240 Democrat to hey, I'm going to pass a bill that 206 00:13:07,360 --> 00:13:10,200 says we want to tend to one map and forget 207 00:13:10,200 --> 00:13:13,360 what the Constitution of Virginia says, where two sessions need 208 00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:18,279 to pass to change the map or by a sixty 209 00:13:18,320 --> 00:13:21,679 six percent yes vote by the Virginia people just a 210 00:13:21,720 --> 00:13:23,759 few years ago to say we're going to have a 211 00:13:23,759 --> 00:13:27,200 commission to decide these issues, not the legislature, not the governor. 212 00:13:27,960 --> 00:13:32,039 So it's it is scary to think what could happen 213 00:13:32,639 --> 00:13:38,759 if the American voter does not see that when the 214 00:13:38,879 --> 00:13:42,240 Left gets powered, no matter what they're saying on the 215 00:13:42,240 --> 00:13:45,799 campaign trail, they will cause even more chaos than what 216 00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:49,159 you think is happening today, and more instability than what 217 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:52,399 you see today, And to completely weaponize the governments, completely 218 00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:56,399 shut it down with subpoena after subpoena, impeachment after impeachment, 219 00:13:56,519 --> 00:13:59,039 not just of the president, but of even his cabinet. 220 00:14:02,519 --> 00:14:05,879 Speaker 3: CNBC needs to start being honest with themselves. The watch 221 00:14:05,919 --> 00:14:08,759 Doout on Wall Street podcast with Chris Markowski. Every day 222 00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:11,799 Chris helps unpack the connection between politics and the economy 223 00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:14,919 and how it affects your wallet. CNBC's calls are not 224 00:14:15,080 --> 00:14:19,799 just wrong, they're really wrong. The fast money circus on CNBC. 225 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:23,639 The fast money circus on CNBC has gone too far. 226 00:14:23,759 --> 00:14:25,840 Whether it's happening in DC or down on Wall Street, 227 00:14:25,840 --> 00:14:27,039 it's affecting you financially. 228 00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:27,639 Speaker 2: Be informed. 229 00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:29,840 Speaker 3: Check out the Watchdot on Wall Street podcast with Chris 230 00:14:29,879 --> 00:14:32,919 Markowski on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. 231 00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:42,960 Speaker 1: Well, that's that's interesting to me, you know, on all fronts, 232 00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:46,799 and you know we've seen this play out everywhere across 233 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:50,799 this country from from Democrats over the last year plus 234 00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:54,679 Trump two point zero. But what about the center right. 235 00:14:55,360 --> 00:15:00,440 They've got to have something to believe in to go 236 00:15:00,559 --> 00:15:04,399 out and vote, particularly those all important low propensity voters, 237 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:07,639 the voters that came out during twenty twenty four to 238 00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:11,879 vote for President Trump, the voters who rarely come out 239 00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:19,840 if at all. If the Republican controlled US Senate cannot 240 00:15:19,879 --> 00:15:25,279 get this basic Election Integrity Bill passed, what do you 241 00:15:25,320 --> 00:15:29,000 think that will mean to the twenty twenty six mid 242 00:15:29,120 --> 00:15:30,639 term elections for Republicans. 243 00:15:32,399 --> 00:15:35,000 Speaker 2: I think people come down one of two ways when 244 00:15:35,039 --> 00:15:39,639 it comes to the effectiveness of the Congress. I would 245 00:15:39,720 --> 00:15:45,559 argue that if you like things not shifting dramatically, then 246 00:15:45,559 --> 00:15:48,159 you can vote Republican because you know that there's going 247 00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:49,919 to be inviting they're not actually going to get too 248 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:53,279 much through. That's the pessimistic view. I think the optimistic 249 00:15:53,399 --> 00:15:56,720 view is, hey, we have an opportunity here to take 250 00:15:57,879 --> 00:16:01,279 an issue that is overwhelmingly popular with Americans, and we 251 00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:03,600 can prove to them that we could be effective leaders 252 00:16:03,639 --> 00:16:05,840 even without a sixty vote threshold. And now you've seen 253 00:16:05,919 --> 00:16:08,720 the House pass the Save Act a number of times, 254 00:16:08,759 --> 00:16:11,600 and now the Save America Act, which the Save Act 255 00:16:11,639 --> 00:16:14,200 is the voter regstoration piece where you proof syst and 256 00:16:14,240 --> 00:16:17,159 ship at voter restoration. And then the Save America Act 257 00:16:17,480 --> 00:16:20,440 was the same piece of the voter registration but also 258 00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:24,000 added that photo voter ID part. That's what recently passed 259 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:26,360 this past week. And so you have a president who's 260 00:16:26,399 --> 00:16:30,559 willing to sign it and a House that had already 261 00:16:30,559 --> 00:16:32,320 passed it. So it's up to the Senate. But I 262 00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:35,080 think the greater issue here when you talk about those 263 00:16:35,120 --> 00:16:38,279 low propencity voters is they do have to have something 264 00:16:38,399 --> 00:16:41,240 to vote for. And you hit on that exact point, 265 00:16:41,279 --> 00:16:44,840 which is you can't just run a campaign and talk 266 00:16:44,879 --> 00:16:47,120 the whole year about how scary it could be if 267 00:16:47,159 --> 00:16:49,759 the other side it gets power, how they could wield 268 00:16:49,799 --> 00:16:52,639 power against you and us and weaponize the government. The 269 00:16:52,879 --> 00:16:54,559 people have to have something to vote for. And the 270 00:16:54,600 --> 00:16:58,159 President did such a great job in twenty sixteen and 271 00:16:58,240 --> 00:17:03,120 again even and this past year in twenty four to 272 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:06,000 point to accomplishments in what he's going to do. And 273 00:17:06,039 --> 00:17:09,200 so the Senate needs to get on board with the 274 00:17:09,240 --> 00:17:12,920 President's agenda here, and the President I think needs to 275 00:17:12,960 --> 00:17:15,799 do a really good job here in about a week 276 00:17:15,839 --> 00:17:17,440 and a half during the State of the Union and 277 00:17:17,519 --> 00:17:20,920 throughout the rest of campaign season. We're hitting primary season 278 00:17:21,039 --> 00:17:23,279 very soon, just a few short weeks before Texas and 279 00:17:23,319 --> 00:17:27,200 North Carolina have their primaries. But those domestic issues that 280 00:17:27,279 --> 00:17:29,400 those middle of the road voters are those low propensity 281 00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:35,839 voters care about, which is prices, the economy, safety. It 282 00:17:35,920 --> 00:17:38,559 is so great that the president has all those foreign 283 00:17:38,559 --> 00:17:41,839 policy wines, But if you ask that mother of four 284 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:45,319 who's buying eggs, who's taking her kids to school, who 285 00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:47,200 is not sure if she can go out at night 286 00:17:47,240 --> 00:17:51,599 and be safe, if she cares as much about Ukraine 287 00:17:51,839 --> 00:17:54,160 or Israel as she does about those issues I just 288 00:17:54,200 --> 00:17:57,279 mentioned domestically, the answer is no. And so I think 289 00:17:57,319 --> 00:18:00,480 the President has done an amazing job form and domestic 290 00:18:00,559 --> 00:18:02,680 and that focus has to be on those domestic issues 291 00:18:02,720 --> 00:18:04,200 for the next few months. And so if I was 292 00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:06,480 going to give any advice to anyone in the administration, 293 00:18:06,640 --> 00:18:09,599 is hump out your wins. You have wins. You've accomplished 294 00:18:09,680 --> 00:18:13,039 more in just over a year than the previous administration 295 00:18:13,119 --> 00:18:16,599 could ever think to have accomplished in four years. And 296 00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:19,359 so that is I think the strategy going for is 297 00:18:19,559 --> 00:18:23,599 that education where you hit on it, book, Hollywood, the media, 298 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:28,319 the education system, everything that is consumed by the American 299 00:18:28,359 --> 00:18:32,039 person is left leading and we have to break through 300 00:18:32,119 --> 00:18:35,160 somehow to get the truth across the line. 301 00:18:35,359 --> 00:18:38,960 Speaker 1: As we talk today on that domestic front, we note 302 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:43,519 that inflation is at its lowest level in five years. 303 00:18:44,079 --> 00:18:49,400 That's extremely meaningful because we spent four years of Biden 304 00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:54,400 inflation and I think those issues hopefully begin to translate. 305 00:18:54,559 --> 00:18:58,720 But there are facts and then there is the narrative, 306 00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:03,759 and those are always is often at least two different things. 307 00:19:03,839 --> 00:19:08,119 Our guest today is Thomas Lane, America First Policy Institute's 308 00:19:08,119 --> 00:19:12,960 director of Election Integrity, an American Justice campaign director. We're 309 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:19,160 talking about election integrity and a basic key election integrity 310 00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:22,720 measure that now finds its way in the US Senate. 311 00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:27,799 Whether the Save America Act will survive that Senate is 312 00:19:28,119 --> 00:19:30,480 yet to be seen. So Thomas, let's talk about the 313 00:19:30,519 --> 00:19:32,920 mechanics of it. You talked about the standing or the 314 00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:38,759 talking a portion of all of this when we talk 315 00:19:38,839 --> 00:19:44,119 about the filibuster and trying to get around that. So 316 00:19:44,200 --> 00:19:49,799 the talking or standing philibuster would make Democrats speak on 317 00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:54,920 this issue for how long do you think, because I 318 00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:59,400 think that is a big concern, certainly for some of 319 00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:03,920 the the Republicans, if you will, we talked about a 320 00:20:03,920 --> 00:20:05,720 while ago, and we'll go into that in just a bit. 321 00:20:05,720 --> 00:20:12,720 But how long do you think a talking filibuster would last? 322 00:20:13,160 --> 00:20:16,160 And what are the rules to it all? 323 00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:20,000 Speaker 2: Yeah, great question, Matt. Let's dive in a little bit. 324 00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:23,640 I'll try to give a top line first, which is 325 00:20:24,640 --> 00:20:27,799 you force the other side to speak, and they get 326 00:20:27,839 --> 00:20:32,000 two speeches per legislative day percentator on each of the 327 00:20:32,559 --> 00:20:35,880 issues you table. I mean, you set aside all motions, 328 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:38,440 you don't let the other side adjourn, and once those 329 00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:42,480 speeches are exhausted, you can then move to passing a 330 00:20:42,559 --> 00:20:46,960 vote with fifty one votes. Now, this does require multiple 331 00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:52,640 long days on the Senate floor for both Republicans and Democrats. 332 00:20:52,839 --> 00:20:56,799 And to dive in a little deeper, I had mentioned 333 00:20:56,839 --> 00:20:59,519 you're only when you speak on the built the standing 334 00:20:59,480 --> 00:21:02,559 philibusure talking philibuster, the Democrats would only be allowed two 335 00:21:02,559 --> 00:21:06,119 speeches each on a legislative matter, on a legislative day, 336 00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:08,279 they can speak a long time if they choose during 337 00:21:08,319 --> 00:21:11,200 each speech they can't. But they cannot. They can't lean 338 00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:13,599 on a desk, they can't sit, they can't leave the 339 00:21:13,599 --> 00:21:15,880 floor during the speech. They have to be just talking 340 00:21:15,960 --> 00:21:20,920 straight through. So those requirements for a speech, as well 341 00:21:20,920 --> 00:21:22,839 as the the limit for how many speeches there are, 342 00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:27,200 will finally exhaust the time, and so we're looking at 343 00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:30,319 something like it could be days, it could be weeks, 344 00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:33,359 and before you can even get to that. The reason 345 00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:37,400 that we're able to even have the Senate gets that 346 00:21:37,759 --> 00:21:40,759 standing talking Philgreust are part of this is if you 347 00:21:40,759 --> 00:21:43,559 were a lookout, if you're at Google and search Save 348 00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:47,480 America Act and you see on Congress dot gov that hey, 349 00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:51,079 this actually hasn't moved through the House. I see that 350 00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:54,160 Chip Roy introduce this bill, but it's still just refer 351 00:21:54,240 --> 00:21:56,200 to the Committe on House Administration. I don't see that's 352 00:21:56,200 --> 00:22:00,480 actually passed. Well. The House Rules Committee had ended a 353 00:22:00,599 --> 00:22:04,240 version of Senate Bill thirteen eighty three, so S one 354 00:22:04,319 --> 00:22:07,000 three eighty three, and that's what the House had passed. 355 00:22:07,039 --> 00:22:10,680 So because it's an amendment to a bill that originated 356 00:22:10,759 --> 00:22:13,359 in the Senate, it actually goes back to the Senate 357 00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:16,079 as what they call a message from the House to 358 00:22:16,119 --> 00:22:19,119 the Senate, and that's what allows Majority Leader Thoon to 359 00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:22,920 bring it to the floor without needing to win sixty 360 00:22:23,039 --> 00:22:26,720 votes on emotion to invoke what they called cloture on 361 00:22:26,799 --> 00:22:29,920 a motion to proceed, because he doesn't need that motion 362 00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:32,799 to proceed for a bill at the Senate is already 363 00:22:32,799 --> 00:22:36,319 considering because it's already Senate Bill one three eight three. 364 00:22:36,440 --> 00:22:39,680 So the Leader will have to get sixty votes on 365 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:43,160 a motion to end debate on the amended bill before 366 00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:47,279 final passage. Though, So even when we're talking for so 367 00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:50,599 long and debating for so long and standing for so long, 368 00:22:51,519 --> 00:22:54,319 he will still need sixty votes to say, hey, we're 369 00:22:54,440 --> 00:22:57,559 ending debate. So the play here is just to exhaust 370 00:22:58,079 --> 00:23:01,200 the other side and talk about for so long that 371 00:23:01,279 --> 00:23:04,319 they finally actually to give up or that some deal 372 00:23:04,480 --> 00:23:08,880 is made for what we've been saying this whole time 373 00:23:09,039 --> 00:23:13,960 is an eighty three seventeen issue of requiring citizenship to 374 00:23:14,039 --> 00:23:16,799 prove that you are an American citizen when you go 375 00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:20,119 to register to vote and then also when you actually vote. 376 00:23:20,119 --> 00:23:23,519 To present a photo voter ID these eighty twenty issues 377 00:23:23,759 --> 00:23:27,720 that the Democrats will be made to stand against for 378 00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:29,359 days or weeks on end. 379 00:23:30,279 --> 00:23:33,359 Speaker 1: So that that is very interesting because I think that's 380 00:23:33,359 --> 00:23:39,319 a point that's lost. They still need sixty votes to 381 00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:43,720 invoke cloture, even if they go through weeks and weeks 382 00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:49,039 of Democrats giving you their Spartacus moment. Of course, as 383 00:23:49,079 --> 00:23:53,039 we saw with a certain New Jersey senator a while 384 00:23:53,119 --> 00:23:56,319 back who may or may have not been wearing adult diapers, 385 00:23:56,359 --> 00:23:59,160 there's still some question about that twenty five hour speech. 386 00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:04,519 But all of that said, this Republican majority Senate, after 387 00:24:04,720 --> 00:24:07,680 all is said and done, it's not a majority vote. 388 00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:15,079 When the last Democrat hoarsely says uncle, right, that's right. 389 00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:17,680 Speaker 2: You still would need that sixty votes to end debate. 390 00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:21,720 And we see when it comes to these procedural votes. 391 00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:24,640 Even a couple of days ago, in the Save America 392 00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:27,839 Act was moving through the Rules committee in the House 393 00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:31,559 and then eventually to the House floor, Thomas Massey from 394 00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:35,119 Kentucky was getting a lot of heat for quote unquote 395 00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:38,480 voting against the Save America Act when he has always 396 00:24:38,559 --> 00:24:42,359 voted against the rule attached to the bill, which is, hey, 397 00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:44,559 we're going to expedite this and so we're going to 398 00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:46,839 do away with some of the procedure because we want 399 00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:49,359 it to the House floor. And he'll always be voting 400 00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:52,240 against against that. He wants every bill, no matter what, 401 00:24:52,319 --> 00:24:55,319 to go through certain procedures. And so he was getting 402 00:24:55,319 --> 00:24:57,279 a lot of heat for voting quote unquote against the 403 00:24:57,279 --> 00:24:59,920 Save America Act. But when it came time for final PAS, 404 00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:02,599 he was a yes vote on the Save of American Act. 405 00:25:02,680 --> 00:25:06,319 So that's the hope is like, hey, senators, they're going 406 00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:08,279 to be exhausted, they're going to be doing this for 407 00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:11,480 for days and weeks. They're saying they're crying uncle, and 408 00:25:11,799 --> 00:25:15,240 every Republican will be on board to say, yes, we're 409 00:25:15,279 --> 00:25:19,079 evoking cloture, we are proceeding. And then you will get 410 00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:23,319 someone maybe like a Senator Fetterman from Pennsylvania who's actually 411 00:25:23,319 --> 00:25:25,920 a co sponsor on the legislation. Believe or not, we 412 00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:30,079 can't get we can't get certain senators from Alaska to 413 00:25:31,079 --> 00:25:35,000 to say these eighty three seventeen issues are something that 414 00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:37,000 they want to put their name behind. But a Democrat 415 00:25:37,039 --> 00:25:40,519 from Pennsylvania will so there. That is the only the 416 00:25:40,599 --> 00:25:44,759 only hope is that you get those seven crossovers to say, look, 417 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:48,400 we've shut down the Senate effectively for however many days 418 00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:50,599 or weeks this has taken we haven't taken up any 419 00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:54,599 other issue. And it's it's a it's a Senate shutdown, 420 00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:57,039 is what it's going to be labeled as, I'm sure. 421 00:25:57,079 --> 00:25:59,400 And it's a government shutdown in effect, where they're not 422 00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:02,400 actually working on anything except this bill. 423 00:26:03,279 --> 00:26:06,480 Speaker 1: And that gives me less hope for this bill in 424 00:26:06,519 --> 00:26:09,799 the sense than I originally had. I think a lot 425 00:26:09,839 --> 00:26:12,880 of Americans think, Okay, you go through this lengthy process 426 00:26:13,039 --> 00:26:14,720 and then at the end of the day, you just 427 00:26:14,839 --> 00:26:15,799 vote up or down. 428 00:26:16,079 --> 00:26:16,599 Speaker 2: You get the. 429 00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:21,480 Speaker 1: Majority of Republicans supporting it, it has passed, it goes 430 00:26:21,559 --> 00:26:24,680 to the President's desk. Nope, that is not the case. 431 00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:29,960 So you have a lot of scenarios playing out here, 432 00:26:30,079 --> 00:26:33,960 But the one that really comes to mind is the 433 00:26:34,119 --> 00:26:40,319 argument from Republicans, which will be the public argument that 434 00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:44,759 Democrats will make if they are forced to go through 435 00:26:44,839 --> 00:26:52,000 this standing filibuster. We have so many more important things 436 00:26:52,079 --> 00:26:55,480 to do, or we have so many important things to do. 437 00:26:55,519 --> 00:26:58,279 Maybe this is just as important, but we have so 438 00:26:58,759 --> 00:27:02,519 many other legislative matter to take up. But his Senator 439 00:27:02,559 --> 00:27:07,839 Ron Johnson told me last week that's a croc. That's 440 00:27:07,839 --> 00:27:10,960 not exactly a direct quote from him, but that's the sentiment. 441 00:27:12,759 --> 00:27:16,319 The Senate isn't doing anything anyway because it's the sixty 442 00:27:16,359 --> 00:27:22,279 voo clulture for everything. So why not concentrate on the 443 00:27:22,319 --> 00:27:32,279 thing that is the core fundamental issue facing constitutional republic democracy. 444 00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:39,519 Is that message Senator Johnson's message getting through not to 445 00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:43,680 Lisa Murkowski, we know, but to the vast majority of 446 00:27:43,759 --> 00:27:44,680 Senate Republicans. 447 00:27:45,759 --> 00:27:49,559 Speaker 2: I think you do see a coalescing of Senate Republicans. 448 00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:53,279 I believe Senator Mike Lee, he's the one who's carrying 449 00:27:53,319 --> 00:27:57,960 the Senate component of the Save America Act, and I 450 00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:00,880 believe he was at forty five co sponsor and he expected, 451 00:28:01,039 --> 00:28:02,640 I believe that to get up to forty eight or 452 00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:06,480 forty nine. So you do see a coalescing around the issue. Now, 453 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:09,759 of course, there is a difference between being a co 454 00:28:09,839 --> 00:28:12,240 sponsor on a bill and saying that you're willing to 455 00:28:12,279 --> 00:28:15,920 go through a very lengthy process that is going to 456 00:28:15,920 --> 00:28:20,279 be a messaging process. You and Senator Ron Johnson, you 457 00:28:20,359 --> 00:28:25,440 kind of hit on this point, which is we and 458 00:28:25,559 --> 00:28:28,799 I'm speaking as Ron Johnson here. If I'm a Republican, 459 00:28:28,880 --> 00:28:32,039 we get the blame no matter what for a shutdown. 460 00:28:32,119 --> 00:28:36,559 And so if we're going to actually say, hey, we're 461 00:28:36,559 --> 00:28:39,680 doing nothing else except the Save America Act, then it'd 462 00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:43,079 be very reasonable, I think for a voter or any 463 00:28:43,079 --> 00:28:45,119 member of the public to say, well, the sence not 464 00:28:45,160 --> 00:28:49,720 doing anything except this one bill, and yeah, the Democrats 465 00:28:49,759 --> 00:28:51,559 are fighting back, but what else would you expect the 466 00:28:51,559 --> 00:28:55,160 other side to be doing? And so it is territory 467 00:28:55,440 --> 00:28:59,880 that is dangerous. But it's you get into the pla 468 00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:05,000 game of Look, this is an eighty three seventeen issue 469 00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:07,799 that is important, and if we can't agree on this, 470 00:29:07,960 --> 00:29:09,440 you know what are we actually going to agree on 471 00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:12,759 to get that sixty vote threshold? So you do hit 472 00:29:12,799 --> 00:29:16,559 on that. I fear that. Look, if this last week, 473 00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:19,519 two weeks, or three weeks, this new cycle is twenty 474 00:29:19,559 --> 00:29:21,640 four to seven, there's something that's going to happen, that's 475 00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:23,400 going to pop that the Democrats are going to point 476 00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:25,680 to and say, look, we can't actually do anything in 477 00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:29,400 the Senate because Republicans have us tied up talking about 478 00:29:29,720 --> 00:29:33,759 these issues that don't actually matter because blah blah blah, 479 00:29:33,759 --> 00:29:37,440 it's already illegal for non citizens to vote, or it's 480 00:29:37,559 --> 00:29:42,039 racist to require photo voter ID. So they've got the 481 00:29:42,079 --> 00:29:45,519 playbook down. They can wait and wait and wait, and 482 00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:48,799 the more the news cycle goes on and drags on. 483 00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:52,039 That's their play is that what are the American people 484 00:29:52,079 --> 00:29:53,759 going to be tired of? First? Are they going to 485 00:29:53,799 --> 00:29:59,119 be tired of Republicans shutting down the Senate for these 486 00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:01,319 two provisions? Or are they going to be tired of 487 00:30:01,319 --> 00:30:04,200 Democrats calling everyone racist all the time for things that 488 00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:06,039 they don't agree with. And I think that's the fight 489 00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:07,079 that's brewing. 490 00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:11,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, what you noted was one of the most contextual 491 00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:13,920 lies out there that the Democrats have of all the 492 00:30:14,119 --> 00:30:17,680 myriad lies that they are pushing out to the American people, 493 00:30:18,279 --> 00:30:22,200 is that it's already illegal to vote if you are, 494 00:30:22,559 --> 00:30:24,759 you know, an a legal immigrant or a foreign national 495 00:30:24,759 --> 00:30:33,000 and non citizen. That is true based on an honor system. 496 00:30:33,759 --> 00:30:36,799 And if you're already breaking the law to get into 497 00:30:36,839 --> 00:30:41,160 this country, you have to start asking about the honor system, 498 00:30:41,160 --> 00:30:43,720 which means that you have to check a box and 499 00:30:43,799 --> 00:30:48,559 your registration whether you're a citizen or not. There is 500 00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:51,279 no way of proving that, of course, there is there 501 00:30:51,319 --> 00:30:56,960 is no way of very little that you can do 502 00:30:57,119 --> 00:31:00,920 about that once that's in the system. But that will be, 503 00:31:01,079 --> 00:31:05,000 of course, one of the biggest talking points the Democrats 504 00:31:05,039 --> 00:31:07,599 will bring out if it gets to a talking philibus. Now, 505 00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:09,799 Johnson said, if we're going to do this, why don't 506 00:31:09,799 --> 00:31:12,480 we put a bunch of stuff in here and really 507 00:31:12,519 --> 00:31:16,640 make this baby sale because we're going to take the time. 508 00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:19,920 Let's fight for it. Let's fight for other election integrity measures, 509 00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:23,519 some other important things. Do you see that happening right now? 510 00:31:23,559 --> 00:31:25,759 Is there the will to do that in the Senate? 511 00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:29,880 Speaker 2: I'm so glad you brought that up because Speaker Johnson 512 00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:33,200 made the exact argument that I was making just to 513 00:31:33,279 --> 00:31:36,279 friends and family of if we're going to be doing 514 00:31:36,319 --> 00:31:41,319 this and having the Senate just do these two provisions 515 00:31:41,319 --> 00:31:44,519 for election Terry and go through all that trouble, why 516 00:31:44,599 --> 00:31:48,240 aren't he doing all twelve thirteen, fourteen things that you 517 00:31:48,319 --> 00:31:50,519 and I could think of that are these eighty twenty 518 00:31:50,559 --> 00:31:54,759 issues that have to do with making our elections more secure. 519 00:31:55,039 --> 00:31:59,720 Something like requiring all ballots to be received by election day. 520 00:32:00,119 --> 00:32:04,359 Thing like requiring a request, an affirmative request from a 521 00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:08,319 voter to receive a male ballot, not just sending ballots 522 00:32:08,359 --> 00:32:13,119 to everyone automatically on these voter roll lists that these 523 00:32:13,119 --> 00:32:16,279 states can't even maintain properly. Where you have these live ballots, 524 00:32:16,519 --> 00:32:19,160 and here in DC you hear store after story of 525 00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:22,960 a very transient city, people moving all the time, and 526 00:32:23,279 --> 00:32:28,039 come election day or here in DC election season because 527 00:32:28,039 --> 00:32:30,720 of all the early voting, it's hey, I got six 528 00:32:30,799 --> 00:32:33,440 ballots in my mailbox. I got four ballots all the 529 00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:38,599 previous tenants. And so why not a citizenship indicator on 530 00:32:38,640 --> 00:32:43,200 a driver's license or any other identification car that says yes, 531 00:32:43,359 --> 00:32:46,240 here's a stamp that says US citizen. Why not a 532 00:32:46,279 --> 00:32:51,200 prohibition on ballot harvesting or a prohibition on ranked choice voting? 533 00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:56,200 Why not the requirement to preserve election records for a 534 00:32:56,240 --> 00:32:59,359 minimum amount of time? And what are those election records? 535 00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:02,720 These are when you pull them? Eighty twenty issues that 536 00:33:03,759 --> 00:33:06,319 the vast majority of Americans say, Yeah, that makes sense. Wait, 537 00:33:06,359 --> 00:33:09,400 that's not the LAHA already Wait wait what are we doing? 538 00:33:09,880 --> 00:33:10,759 Speaker 1: And why not? 539 00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:13,680 Speaker 2: As Speaker Johnson said, throw all those things? And so 540 00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:17,799 I just listed I think maybe what six seven, eight 541 00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:21,519 provisions and all those can be found in Actually the 542 00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:25,519 Mega Act. MEGA is standing for make election can sorry, 543 00:33:25,559 --> 00:33:29,960 make elections great again? And that bill was recently introduced 544 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:34,880 by my former boss, Chairman Brian Style of the Committee 545 00:33:34,920 --> 00:33:39,000 on House Administration. There's actually hearing this week on that bill, 546 00:33:39,160 --> 00:33:43,640 And yeah, why not do everything? Why not if we're 547 00:33:43,640 --> 00:33:46,359 going to go through all the trouble of having the 548 00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:49,920 senator stand and talk for that long, go all the way. 549 00:33:50,039 --> 00:33:54,119 And I hear one counter argument, which is, look, if 550 00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:57,440 you do that, if Republicans do that, then the Democrats 551 00:33:57,440 --> 00:33:59,839 are just going to hit back three times harder. Well, 552 00:34:00,079 --> 00:34:02,480 you know what they already tried. They already tried with 553 00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:05,440 HR one and HR for the John Lewis Voting Rights 554 00:34:05,440 --> 00:34:08,719 Act or later the Freedom to Vote Actors I call 555 00:34:08,719 --> 00:34:11,119 it the Freedom to Cheat Act, where they it was 556 00:34:11,159 --> 00:34:16,360 a nationalized, federal, one size fits all, six hundred page 557 00:34:16,400 --> 00:34:20,679 bill takeover of elections. And those were the issues that 558 00:34:20,719 --> 00:34:23,480 were even less than fifty to fifty. Those were only 559 00:34:23,519 --> 00:34:27,360 popular within the very extreme radical left. Well, we're talking 560 00:34:27,400 --> 00:34:30,199 about here those provisions that I mentioned that are in 561 00:34:30,199 --> 00:34:32,599 the Mega Act, those are your eighty twenty issues. And 562 00:34:32,639 --> 00:34:35,440 so I'm not saying that we need to nationalize or 563 00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:37,960 federalize elections. What I'm saying is that there should be 564 00:34:38,039 --> 00:34:41,519 a federal baseline standard. And so for the pure constitutionalists 565 00:34:41,519 --> 00:34:44,519 out there, the federalists out there who say, I don't 566 00:34:44,519 --> 00:34:47,840 know even requiring a photo voter ID, that that's a 567 00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:51,599 voter qualification if you look at Article one of the Constitution, 568 00:34:51,840 --> 00:34:55,079 I don't know if we can do that. A conmerce 569 00:34:55,119 --> 00:34:57,039 can do that. And the Supreme Court said an Inner 570 00:34:57,079 --> 00:35:00,119 Tribal case in twenty thirteen, well, you know what, the 571 00:35:00,199 --> 00:35:03,400 NVRA is already federal law. That's a national voter registration 572 00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:06,679 after next three HA a Health America Vote Actors and 573 00:35:06,760 --> 00:35:10,000 two already federal law that was in response to hanging 574 00:35:10,119 --> 00:35:13,400 Chad's bushby Gore in two thousand. So Congress has already 575 00:35:13,440 --> 00:35:18,400 taken action on elections multiple times. And so this is 576 00:35:18,480 --> 00:35:21,559 just a simple amendment to what Congress has already done 577 00:35:21,599 --> 00:35:23,440 to institute these baseline standards. 578 00:35:23,760 --> 00:35:26,039 Speaker 1: That's an excellent point. One of two things is going 579 00:35:26,119 --> 00:35:27,840 to have to happen. The Supreme Court is going to 580 00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:33,119 have to go back and say JAVA and the National 581 00:35:33,880 --> 00:35:39,599 Voter Rights Act is unconstitutional. You can't do that. Or 582 00:35:39,800 --> 00:35:44,800 if they don't do that, and they haven't, then what 583 00:35:45,079 --> 00:35:48,360 is being proposed right now? Through the Save America Act 584 00:35:48,599 --> 00:35:53,159 is absolutely constitutional. Messaging has always been a problem for 585 00:35:53,199 --> 00:35:56,199 the Republicans, and I hope they get better at it 586 00:35:56,280 --> 00:36:00,719 real quick on this front. In particular, Note that you 587 00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:04,559 drive home the point that it's really the Wisconsin guys. 588 00:36:05,039 --> 00:36:07,039 They are making the good common sense out there. And 589 00:36:07,119 --> 00:36:11,840 as an old Wisconsin guy, I appreciate that we mentioned 590 00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:16,199 Senator Johnson, we mentioned representative style, both from the great 591 00:36:16,239 --> 00:36:19,639 state of Wisconsin, like yours. Truly, I want to read 592 00:36:19,679 --> 00:36:23,239 this from Sean Davis, CEO of The Federalist. I think 593 00:36:23,280 --> 00:36:27,599 this is a very pointed and I think it's a 594 00:36:27,639 --> 00:36:29,320 great point. I want to get your take on it. 595 00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:34,960 We talked about the Republicans who simply won't go along 596 00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:39,800 with this, Lisa Murkowski and perhaps a guy who has 597 00:36:40,360 --> 00:36:44,320 acted in a lot of ways out of spite toward 598 00:36:44,440 --> 00:36:48,639 President Trump, and that is Mitch McConnell, the former Senate 599 00:36:48,679 --> 00:36:53,039 Majority leader, the Republican from Kentucky. Sean writes this, McConnell's 600 00:36:53,360 --> 00:36:58,679 heel turn on election security is worse than spiite. It's 601 00:36:58,719 --> 00:37:03,400 about money, and and he goes through to talk about, 602 00:37:03,760 --> 00:37:10,039 you know, McConnell's associates, his congressional aids, former congressional aids, 603 00:37:10,039 --> 00:37:15,679 and what have you writing about? You know, the Save Act, 604 00:37:16,119 --> 00:37:19,119 opposing the Save Act, all of these sorts of things. 605 00:37:19,119 --> 00:37:21,960 But what it comes down to in Sean's argument is 606 00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:25,840 there's a lot of money, particularly he argues, from the 607 00:37:25,880 --> 00:37:30,920 military industrial complex to keep things status quo. What do 608 00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:31,360 you think. 609 00:37:31,199 --> 00:37:35,159 Speaker 2: About all of that. I haven't read the piece, but 610 00:37:35,320 --> 00:37:37,000 now I need to. I need to find that piece 611 00:37:37,039 --> 00:37:40,679 and take a look. It's an amazing insight into what 612 00:37:41,480 --> 00:37:46,679 Senator McConnell his his path to today, which is a 613 00:37:46,840 --> 00:37:52,760 champion for really campaign finance restructuring and tailoring for decades. 614 00:37:53,360 --> 00:37:58,400 And now as the Senate Rules Chair no longer the 615 00:37:58,440 --> 00:38:01,719 majority leader, that's now Center Thune, but where he's at 616 00:38:01,840 --> 00:38:04,800 is the Senate Rules Committee. And I bring that up 617 00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:09,079 because over on the Senate side, the federal oversight of 618 00:38:09,159 --> 00:38:13,000 elections goes through the Senate Rules Committee. And so why 619 00:38:13,039 --> 00:38:16,760 did Save America have to go to the Senate floor 620 00:38:16,920 --> 00:38:18,960 in the way that it did. Well, it's because they 621 00:38:18,960 --> 00:38:23,000 had to bypass that committee process and Mitch McConnell not 622 00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:27,679 bringing certain legislation to the floor. Now our starty to 623 00:38:27,679 --> 00:38:31,079 the committee, and I can't predict the future. I don't 624 00:38:31,119 --> 00:38:35,000 know what his vote would eventually be, whether it's for 625 00:38:35,079 --> 00:38:37,920 cloture or for final passage of the bill. I have 626 00:38:38,039 --> 00:38:42,440 hope that in many ways he has been a great 627 00:38:43,079 --> 00:38:47,800 ally to the President and to the Republican Party when 628 00:38:47,840 --> 00:38:52,559 it comes to Supreme Court judges and other issues. But 629 00:38:52,639 --> 00:38:55,679 recently we have seen I think the quote was a 630 00:38:55,719 --> 00:39:00,119 heel turn, and so I'm remaining as optimistic as as 631 00:39:00,119 --> 00:39:03,519 I can be. Now, your listeners might say, Thomas, You're 632 00:39:03,559 --> 00:39:07,320 being stupid, and I probably might be, but I think 633 00:39:07,360 --> 00:39:10,840 with proper messaging and with a coalescing behind such a 634 00:39:10,920 --> 00:39:15,960 simple issue, I do still have hope that in the end, 635 00:39:16,519 --> 00:39:19,880 on his last you know, years as a Senator, with 636 00:39:20,400 --> 00:39:22,840 Senator McConnell retiring at the end of his term here, 637 00:39:23,320 --> 00:39:26,280 that he'll leave one final gift to the American people 638 00:39:26,320 --> 00:39:31,159 and it's his yes vote on very reasonable legislation. 639 00:39:31,960 --> 00:39:37,639 Speaker 1: Or will he leave one final fu to Trump. That 640 00:39:37,719 --> 00:39:40,440 remains to be seen. Of course, you said you can't 641 00:39:40,480 --> 00:39:43,039 predict the future. No one can, but you do have 642 00:39:43,119 --> 00:39:48,239 particular insight into the process. You know you have a 643 00:39:48,280 --> 00:39:52,519 particular insight because you're responsible for some of the language 644 00:39:52,519 --> 00:39:54,280 in the bill. Am I correct? On that in the 645 00:39:54,360 --> 00:39:55,280 original Save Act. 646 00:39:56,320 --> 00:39:59,159 Speaker 2: Yeah, so the original Save Act. If I were to 647 00:39:59,199 --> 00:40:03,199 go back to my time on the Hill on the 648 00:40:03,199 --> 00:40:06,360 Command House Administration as a staffer, before my time at 649 00:40:06,400 --> 00:40:10,000 America First Policy Institute, a lot of people don't know 650 00:40:10,039 --> 00:40:13,800 about the Committee on House Administration. I think most people know, Oh, Judiciary, 651 00:40:13,840 --> 00:40:18,079 I've heard of that, Oh Oversight, I've heard of Comer 652 00:40:18,199 --> 00:40:21,800 and Jim Jordan, and I see those committees on TV. Well, 653 00:40:21,800 --> 00:40:25,519 the Committee on House Administration is a much smaller committee, 654 00:40:25,559 --> 00:40:29,119 and it is a speaker selected committee. Now, a lot 655 00:40:29,159 --> 00:40:33,760 of the Judiciary Education Oversight, those members and the chairman 656 00:40:33,840 --> 00:40:36,960 are selected by a body including the Speaker, but a 657 00:40:37,039 --> 00:40:40,079 steering committee you get twenty or so of the top 658 00:40:40,119 --> 00:40:43,519 Republicans together at the beginning of Congress to say, hey, 659 00:40:43,559 --> 00:40:45,960 these are the people we want on each committee. Well, 660 00:40:46,000 --> 00:40:49,079 the Command on House Administration is specifically selected just by 661 00:40:49,880 --> 00:40:53,480 the Speaker, and so it's seen as the Speaker's committee, 662 00:40:53,679 --> 00:40:57,760 and it has oversight over the House. It's the House 663 00:40:57,800 --> 00:41:02,400 Administrations over parking, capital Police. But within that is the 664 00:41:02,440 --> 00:41:05,199 seating of its own members. I'm according to the Constitution here, 665 00:41:05,599 --> 00:41:08,840 where we're talking about a federal oversight of elections. And 666 00:41:09,280 --> 00:41:12,480 in the event that there is an election challenge, think 667 00:41:12,840 --> 00:41:16,639 Marionette Miller Meeks in Iowa represented won by six votes, 668 00:41:16,800 --> 00:41:19,719 just six six votes a few years ago. That committee, 669 00:41:19,719 --> 00:41:23,280 the Community Home Administration, turns into effectively a court to 670 00:41:23,320 --> 00:41:27,719 hear these challenges. And so I totally lost for a 671 00:41:27,719 --> 00:41:29,719 second while I was going so deep into this history. 672 00:41:29,719 --> 00:41:33,159 But it's about the Save Act and why I guess 673 00:41:33,239 --> 00:41:36,239 my part in the Save Act. And so we on 674 00:41:36,280 --> 00:41:39,400 the committee had passed a number of bills on non 675 00:41:39,440 --> 00:41:42,440 citizen voting. We marked them up, meaning it went through 676 00:41:42,440 --> 00:41:44,679 the amendment process, and we sent them to the House floor. 677 00:41:45,079 --> 00:41:49,679 But come early twenty twenty four, we're approached by that 678 00:41:49,719 --> 00:41:52,840 Speakers team again Speaker's Committee, and in close consult with 679 00:41:53,119 --> 00:41:57,599 the Speakers and his team, Hey, we have this idea, 680 00:41:57,800 --> 00:42:01,239 this bill that we've been working on with CHI and 681 00:42:01,559 --> 00:42:07,079 it's about verifying citistenship at voter registration. And we said, great, 682 00:42:07,440 --> 00:42:13,039 we've passed these seven bills already on very similar ideas. 683 00:42:13,079 --> 00:42:14,679 And they said, all right, well, we want to take 684 00:42:14,719 --> 00:42:19,280 this one fresh, simple, just this one idea, and we 685 00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:21,159 want to move it through the process. Let's get your 686 00:42:21,159 --> 00:42:23,360 help because it's going to go through your committee. Of course, 687 00:42:23,840 --> 00:42:27,239 we said, great, let's help. And the drafting of the 688 00:42:27,280 --> 00:42:31,440 bill was done by Chip Roy's team and the Speaker's team. 689 00:42:31,480 --> 00:42:34,559 And then my involvement there at the time when I 690 00:42:34,599 --> 00:42:38,199 was a staffer was to work with my colleagues and say, hey, 691 00:42:39,039 --> 00:42:42,719 how does this actually become a viable product that could 692 00:42:42,760 --> 00:42:46,800 get through the Senate. And that was to add the 693 00:42:46,880 --> 00:42:49,880 list maintenance of the voter role maintenance provisions that you'll 694 00:42:49,880 --> 00:42:52,280 see in both the Save Act and the Save American Act, 695 00:42:52,400 --> 00:42:54,599 and for that matter, even the Mega Act Make Collections 696 00:42:54,639 --> 00:42:59,440 Great Again Act, which is the requirement to remove nonsystems 697 00:42:59,440 --> 00:43:02,920 from the voter roles, to use tools that are available 698 00:43:04,119 --> 00:43:07,119 to verify whether the people are on the rules. Because 699 00:43:07,119 --> 00:43:11,320 we could talk all we want about verifying systemship at 700 00:43:11,960 --> 00:43:16,480 voter registration, but you me, millions and others are already 701 00:43:16,480 --> 00:43:17,960 on the voter roles. So what do we do about 702 00:43:17,960 --> 00:43:21,599 those people? Right, we can stop the bleeding the if 703 00:43:21,639 --> 00:43:24,719 President Biden at the time when I was on the Hill, 704 00:43:24,800 --> 00:43:28,639 is going to be letting in tens of millions of 705 00:43:28,800 --> 00:43:31,719 illegal immigrants, what do we do about those folks who 706 00:43:31,760 --> 00:43:34,519 are already on the rolls? And it doesn't have to 707 00:43:34,559 --> 00:43:39,239 just be illegals. They're even more non citizens. And yes, 708 00:43:39,360 --> 00:43:41,920 all illegals are non citizens, but not all non citizens 709 00:43:41,960 --> 00:43:44,840 are legal. You mentioned earlier permanent residents, the people who 710 00:43:44,840 --> 00:43:49,360 are here with green cards, who receive driver's licenses from 711 00:43:49,440 --> 00:43:52,519 a number of states, and who could be handed a 712 00:43:52,559 --> 00:43:55,719 packet at their local DMV thanks to the motor Voter law, 713 00:43:55,719 --> 00:43:58,360 the MVRN that we mentioned earlier, Hey, fell out all 714 00:43:58,400 --> 00:44:01,960 these forms and they could vary accidentally even end up 715 00:44:01,960 --> 00:44:03,480 on the voter rules where they don't even have the 716 00:44:03,519 --> 00:44:06,920 intent to be on there. And so this argument that hey, 717 00:44:06,920 --> 00:44:10,199 it's already illegal for non citizens to be on the roles, 718 00:44:10,239 --> 00:44:14,320 it doesn't hold water because people make mistakes, and that 719 00:44:14,400 --> 00:44:16,559 can be the voter who makes a mistake, the nonsisens 720 00:44:16,559 --> 00:44:18,159 who makes a mistake by filling out a form that 721 00:44:18,199 --> 00:44:21,480 they aren't aware would be illegal to fill out, or 722 00:44:21,519 --> 00:44:24,239 even on the processing side from the election administrators to 723 00:44:24,400 --> 00:44:27,599 not check. And of course I'm not naive to say 724 00:44:27,639 --> 00:44:32,440 that in states where it has been shown take Michigan 725 00:44:32,599 --> 00:44:37,199 and SECU State Jocelyn Benson for example, where it seems 726 00:44:37,239 --> 00:44:40,159 to be an active effort to keep certain people on 727 00:44:40,159 --> 00:44:42,760 the voter roles who shouldn't be on there. And so 728 00:44:43,679 --> 00:44:45,760 this has been a very long way of saying Speaker's 729 00:44:45,760 --> 00:44:51,119 team had approached and we had added with their consultation, Hey, 730 00:44:51,679 --> 00:44:55,320 it's great that we're going to keep nonsystems from registering, 731 00:44:55,400 --> 00:44:57,159 but we have to do something about the people who 732 00:44:57,159 --> 00:45:01,840 are potentially already on the roles. So let's provide tools 733 00:45:01,840 --> 00:45:04,599 that already exist within the federal government that are already 734 00:45:04,599 --> 00:45:09,239 taxpayer funded to those states and say, hey, use these tools. 735 00:45:09,480 --> 00:45:14,159 For example, the Social Security Administration's death database, where the 736 00:45:14,199 --> 00:45:17,559 Social Security Administration the government is really good at finding 737 00:45:17,599 --> 00:45:20,000 out whether your debt or not and not paying you 738 00:45:20,119 --> 00:45:26,039 any more money. Right, And also the DHS Department of 739 00:45:26,039 --> 00:45:29,079 Whole Land Security their SAVED database. And yes, same acronym 740 00:45:29,320 --> 00:45:34,800 SAVE stands for the Systematic Alien Verification for entitlements, not 741 00:45:34,920 --> 00:45:38,679 the Safeguard American voter Eligibility save and SAVE. But that is, Hey, 742 00:45:39,079 --> 00:45:41,360 a lot of non citizens they have an identification number 743 00:45:41,400 --> 00:45:44,360 because they receive entitlements. And so if someone's in that database, 744 00:45:44,400 --> 00:45:46,800 it remains to you know, it's logical that there are 745 00:45:46,880 --> 00:45:48,760 non citizens should be on the voter rules. And so 746 00:45:49,119 --> 00:45:51,039 we also have a section right after that it says, hey, 747 00:45:51,360 --> 00:45:56,320 if you DHS receive notice that a non citizen becomes 748 00:45:56,320 --> 00:45:59,360 a citizen. People become citizens every day, then let us 749 00:45:59,400 --> 00:46:01,559 know so that you can say, look, they might show 750 00:46:01,599 --> 00:46:03,920 up in the SAVE database, but they're actually citizens now. 751 00:46:03,960 --> 00:46:06,960 And so we were getting the weeds on really making 752 00:46:07,000 --> 00:46:10,559 this a law that would make sense. Now. One page, 753 00:46:10,599 --> 00:46:14,360 two page bills sound great in theory, but you run 754 00:46:14,400 --> 00:46:16,880 the risk of messing up a whole lot of stuff 755 00:46:16,880 --> 00:46:19,719 if you're not detailed enough at the start. And so 756 00:46:20,119 --> 00:46:22,519 that was my involvement was working with the Speaker's team 757 00:46:22,800 --> 00:46:25,800 and with Chip Roy's team, the bill sponsor at the time, 758 00:46:25,840 --> 00:46:28,239 and still with Save and Save America to this Congress 759 00:46:28,280 --> 00:46:31,719 to really make this a workable product that would not 760 00:46:31,960 --> 00:46:34,639 be easy for the left to take to court as 761 00:46:34,679 --> 00:46:38,119 soon as the President signs it and becomes effective, and 762 00:46:38,559 --> 00:46:41,920 really have it be an ironclad piece of legislation that 763 00:46:42,199 --> 00:46:43,400 will serve the American people. 764 00:46:43,440 --> 00:46:45,840 Speaker 1: Well, well, they'll take it to court no matter what. 765 00:46:46,400 --> 00:46:48,760 I know. That doesn't matter how ironclad, and they get 766 00:46:48,760 --> 00:46:51,440 some judges we've seen over the last year plus that 767 00:46:52,159 --> 00:46:56,599 agree with their lack of understanding of the Constitution. Obviously 768 00:46:56,639 --> 00:46:59,800 for political reasons. Final question, then, for you, having gone 769 00:46:59,800 --> 00:47:04,719 through all of this process from the beginning and you 770 00:47:05,159 --> 00:47:10,199 not being able to predict the future, what's your bet passage? 771 00:47:10,360 --> 00:47:12,800 What's the number? What are the odds that we see 772 00:47:12,840 --> 00:47:16,960 passage of some form of the Save Act? Would be 773 00:47:17,000 --> 00:47:20,159 at the Save America Act, the original Save Act, the 774 00:47:20,199 --> 00:47:21,719 Mega Act, whatever it may be. 775 00:47:23,119 --> 00:47:26,199 Speaker 2: People always have really good lines to open their answers 776 00:47:26,239 --> 00:47:30,480 about not making predictions or not wanting to give odds, 777 00:47:30,519 --> 00:47:32,599 and I can't recall any of those off the top 778 00:47:32,639 --> 00:47:34,599 of my head. So I'll give you my honest answer, 779 00:47:34,800 --> 00:47:39,000 which is it should be. I'll tell you what it 780 00:47:39,039 --> 00:47:42,039 should be. It should be one. Right. This is an 781 00:47:42,119 --> 00:47:45,559 issue that is so easy. But with everything we talked 782 00:47:45,599 --> 00:47:49,239 about this last forty five minutes, what are the odds? 783 00:47:49,280 --> 00:47:51,280 What would I put it at? And I don't want 784 00:47:51,320 --> 00:47:53,519 to dishearten anybody, but it really it's a call the 785 00:47:53,559 --> 00:47:57,440 action of if I give a five to one odds 786 00:47:57,519 --> 00:48:01,840 that it won't happen, then prove me wrong. Please. If 787 00:48:01,880 --> 00:48:03,920 I were to put money and you're to offer me 788 00:48:04,320 --> 00:48:07,000 even money a one for one bet, you know, say 789 00:48:07,239 --> 00:48:09,760 I bet you ten dollars, that's not going to happen. 790 00:48:09,800 --> 00:48:11,960 And you bet me ten dollars that it will. I 791 00:48:12,000 --> 00:48:14,199 think I have a really good shot right now of 792 00:48:14,480 --> 00:48:18,159 unfortunately being correct. But I hope that the listeners, that 793 00:48:18,199 --> 00:48:21,280 the voters really do put the pressure not just on 794 00:48:21,320 --> 00:48:24,079 the Republicans but the Democrats as well to say, look, 795 00:48:24,360 --> 00:48:27,199 I'm one of those seventy something percent of Democrats who 796 00:48:27,639 --> 00:48:29,280 believe that this is the right thing. I'm one of 797 00:48:29,280 --> 00:48:32,079 those eighty to ninety percent of Republicans who think this 798 00:48:32,119 --> 00:48:34,320 is the right thing. I'm not seeing this on party lines. 799 00:48:34,360 --> 00:48:38,639 I'm seeing this as an American to as the President 800 00:48:38,639 --> 00:48:40,360 likes to say, if we don't have borders, we don't 801 00:48:40,360 --> 00:48:42,760 have a country. And if we're not verifying citizenship, if 802 00:48:42,760 --> 00:48:46,360 we're allowing the world to vote in American elections, that 803 00:48:46,480 --> 00:48:49,280 just goes against the whole tenet of American elections are 804 00:48:49,280 --> 00:48:52,920 for the American people. And so it's been a long 805 00:48:52,960 --> 00:48:55,599 grand standing way of saying, if I were to put 806 00:48:55,599 --> 00:48:57,920 proper odds on it five to one, four to one, 807 00:48:58,119 --> 00:49:02,000 that it's not going to get through the Senate. But 808 00:49:02,119 --> 00:49:08,159 that's why we are fighting every day, publishing research op eds, papers, 809 00:49:08,199 --> 00:49:11,559 talking with people like you. We here at the America 810 00:49:11,599 --> 00:49:16,199 First policys say, look, let's get our people on message, 811 00:49:16,239 --> 00:49:19,039 on board, educated with what is right for the American 812 00:49:19,079 --> 00:49:22,440 people and change those odds. Change that five to one, 813 00:49:22,480 --> 00:49:24,119 that four to one to be a one to one, 814 00:49:24,360 --> 00:49:27,559 or you know what, one hundred percent. That's something this simple. 815 00:49:27,639 --> 00:49:31,239 Let's change this country and change the narrative around the 816 00:49:31,239 --> 00:49:34,760 effectiveness of Congress and the approval rating of the Senators 817 00:49:34,760 --> 00:49:37,199 and the members of the House to be something that 818 00:49:37,199 --> 00:49:39,159 we can all be proud of and to show that 819 00:49:39,199 --> 00:49:41,039 we're the greatest country in the world for a reason. 820 00:49:41,400 --> 00:49:44,559 And when we say America first, we're not just saying 821 00:49:44,599 --> 00:49:47,679 that because we're, you know, superior in every way. We're 822 00:49:47,719 --> 00:49:49,960 saying that because look, we've been around for this is 823 00:49:49,960 --> 00:49:52,519 our two hundred and fiftieth year, and we're still standing. 824 00:49:52,599 --> 00:49:54,320 We're still the greatest country in the world. And it's 825 00:49:54,360 --> 00:49:57,239 because of these principles that we have that we will 826 00:49:57,280 --> 00:50:00,800 maintain this tradition for another two hundred fie years. And 827 00:50:01,239 --> 00:50:03,679 this issue of lection entirety is key in that. 828 00:50:05,159 --> 00:50:08,880 Speaker 1: Absolutely fundamental. And if you think you're grand standing, I'd 829 00:50:08,960 --> 00:50:12,920 like to introduce you to Eric Swaalwell. Okay, that's the 830 00:50:12,960 --> 00:50:19,280 guy who, among many of his left colleagues have excelled 831 00:50:19,599 --> 00:50:23,440 at grand standing. Thanks to my guest today, Thomas Lane, 832 00:50:23,519 --> 00:50:28,119 America First Policy Institutes, a director of Election Integrity and 833 00:50:28,199 --> 00:50:32,960 American Justice Campaign director. You've been listening to another edition 834 00:50:33,000 --> 00:50:36,079 of The Federalist Radio Hour. I'm Matt Kittle's senior elections 835 00:50:36,119 --> 00:50:39,440 correspondent at the Federalist. We'll be back soon with more. 836 00:50:39,880 --> 00:50:43,360 Until then, stay lovers of freedom and anxious for the 837 00:50:43,360 --> 00:51:00,719 frames