WATCH: Senator Blunt Rochester Holds the Floor, Voices Strong Opposition to SAVE America Act

"I look around this room, and I know that we have a choice to make - whether we will allow partisan divides to enable the backsliding of our democracy, or if we're willing to stand shoulder to shoulder to protect the bedrock of our nation: the right to vote."

Senator Blunt Rochester's full remarks can be viewed here.

Washington, DC - U.S. Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) last night delivered remarks on the Senate floor opposing the SAVE America Act. Senator Blunt Rochester discussed American history, her family's heritage, and the urgent need to defend voters' access to the electoral process.

Senator Blunt Rochester was accompanied by a rendering of the document that allowed her formerly enslaved great-great-great grandfather to vote in 19^th-century Georgia.

Below are Senator Blunt Rochester's remarks, as delivered:

Thank you, Mr. President.

I rise today not only as a Senator, but as an American. And as a descendant of enslaved men and women, like those who built this chamber and fought hard for the right to vote. I rise today with a deep concern that we are balancing on a knife's edge, and that if the SAVE America Act becomes law, we will undercut one of the most fundamental things that makes America, America: the right to vote.

Now we are literally in the midst of elections right now, and it's my understanding that this bill would actually take effect immediately. And we've got Americans who are concerned about the cost of living, everything from their rent now to their energy costs.

We are in the midst of war, and we know as a country, we have the most safe and secure elections in the world. So, to my colleagues, I ask the question, what are you saving us from? Being able to participate in our democracy? We've been down this road before.

Mr. President, behind me is a copy of a document that my sister, Thea, found when researching our family roots. We turned this into a scarf that I carried with me on the day that I was sworn in to the United States House of Representatives in 2017, because it was a historic moment and I wanted to carry history with me. And again, I carried it with me when I was sworn in to this august body, the United States Senate.

This document is a window into our nation's and my family's history. It captures the moment when my great-great-great grandfather, a formerly enslaved man, gained the right to vote. He couldn't read or write, so he signed his Returns of Qualified Voters and Reconstruction Oath with an "X." I've been reflecting on this document and how it relates to the moment that we are in as a nation, how it's a physical manifestation of our democracy's ability to expand and contract. How we can bring people together and how we can separate. It's a part of the American experiment.

Yet, 159 years after my great-great-great grandfather signed this document and gained his right to vote, and 61 years after President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law, protecting that fundamental right and expanding it for Black women, we in the Senate are debating the possibility of placing burdens and barriers on voting for millions of Americans, a contraction of our democracy…We're just a few months from marking our nation's 250th year, months away from acknowledging how far we have come as a country. But it's my belief that our democracy is under attack, that there is a coordinated effort to undermine voting rights in America. From right here in Congress, to the judiciary, to the executive.

Let's start with the reason that we're here today: the SAVE America Act. This bill is as dangerous as it is unethical. It is a thinly veiled attempt to make it harder for some Americans to participate in our democracy.

So, here's what it does. It enables this administration to supercharge their voter roll purges by forcing states to share their voter lists with the federal government. It would end proven and safe voter registration systems, including online and mail registration. It would impose new costs on Americans who want to vote, creating a modern day poll tax. It would undermine voting by mail, and it would criminalize election workers and more. Our distinguished minority leader called this bill "Jim Crow 2.0." I'm calling it Jim Crow two-point-no.

Here it is by the numbers: 146 million [Americans], [$]165, 69 [million women], and four and a half [hours].

146 million is the number of Americans who don't have passports at this moment. So, unless they can prove their citizenship with their birth certificate or Social Security card, those millions of Americans will not be able to vote.

[$]165 is the base price for getting a brand new passport. If you have a passport and it's expiring, it will cost you $130 to renew. So, if you can't find your birth certificate or Social Security card, there is now a price tag on your access to the ballot.

69 million is the number of women who have changed their names. Not only will they have to provide proof of citizenship, but under this bill, they also would have to bring their marriage certificate to a voting booth, or maybe a signed affidavit from a judge proving their name change.

Four and a half - four and a half hours is the average amount of time a rural voter would have to drive, round trip, to prove they are a citizen, and ensure that they can vote in the next election. My colleagues will have you believe that we don't believe IDs are important. That's not the case. It's just not true. [In] many states…across the country, we have to use our IDs to vote. I took my driver's license with me when I voted recently in a local election. That's not the point of this bill.

The point of this bill is trying to solve a problem that's not there, and in doing so, it moves the goalposts for people who want to vote. It will squeeze people out of the democratic process by finding ways to cost you money and cost you time if you want to vote.

Bottom line, if this bill passes. Our driver's license, Real ID, tribal ID, college IDs for students, military IDs will no longer be enough. If this bill passes, you would have to mail in a photocopy of your proof of citizenship with your ballot, making it exponentially harder for Americans to vote by mail, not to mention undermining privacy. If you're married, if you are in a rural community, if you are a student on a college campus, if you are a person with a disability, if you are a senior, or if you have changed your name at any point in your life, like so many of us have, including myself - I was married, I was divorced, I was, I was widowed - this bill won't save you, it will hurt you.

But this is just one aspect of the current attack on voting rights.

The second comes from across the street where the Supreme Court has been chipping and chipping and chipping away at voting rights. The systematic weakening of our voter protections started…when the Supreme Court undermined the preclearance provisions of the Voting Rights Act. Preclearance required jurisdictions with a historical record of racial discrimination in voting to clear any changes to their voting laws with the federal government. This was a backstop that protected access to the ballot box for many voters of color. Once it was struck down, some states began to take advantage, passing restrictive voting ID laws, restricting voter registration time frames, reducing early voting, and more. In 2021, the Supreme Court made it harder to prove racially discriminatory voting practices under the VRA, and later this year, they will hear a case that would make it even harder for minority communities to sue states for discriminatory congressional maps.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the threat to our democracy that comes from the executive branch. Let me start from the beginning. Since January of 2025, the Trump administration has used DOGE to steal our personal information and data. They pulled information from the Social Security Administration and the IRS. Why? Maybe to track the American people. Now the administration has turned their attention toward establishing an unsanctioned nationwide voter database. They also raided a Georgia voting center under false pretenses, undermined access to mail-in ballots by changing the rules around how mail is postmarked, and sued and threatened states like Minnesota over access to their voter files.

All of this from a president that wants to, "take over the voting," so that the GOP, "will never lose a race for 50 years." This is a coordinated and un-American campaign against the very core of who we are as a nation. And it's not something that I say lightly, but it's something that I believe must be said, especially as we approach the 250th anniversary of our country.

In those 250 years, we have seen our democracy expand and contract multiple times. Our democracy expanded when my great-great-great grandfather signed his name with that X and gained the right to vote. His descendant now stands in the Senate, a living reminder that our democracy has the ability to grow and change. But our democracy has contracted, too.

And we need to learn from that past if we're going to prevent further contraction in the future. Mr. President, I fear we're on the cusp of falling into a trap our ancestors sprung 100 years ago. You see, my great-great-great grandfather earned the right to vote in Georgia with his signature. But it's unlikely that he was able to really exercise that newly won right for very long. Because from 1877 to 1901, while some Americans were enjoying the Gilded Age, Black Americans were living through a period known as the Great Nadir.

If apex is the highest, the nadir is the lowest. Voter suppression, political violence, things that you see and feel even now. Many of the rights enumerated in the 13^th, 14^th and 15^th amendments, including the right to vote, were being eroded, washed away by partisan gerrymandering, poll taxes, grandfather clauses, Jim Crow laws, and even Supreme Court decisions. For decades, civil rights leaders fought not just to achieve new rights, but to reinstate the ones lost. Our democracy has expanded and contracted.

The first black senator, Hiram Revels, was elected to Congress in 1870, and then Blanche Bruce, but it was 86 years between those two senators and 1967, when we had the next black senator. 86 years. Right now, there are five of us, and this is the first time in our history where there are two Black women at the same time.

If the SAVE America Act passes, we are on the verge of another contraction. The parallels with the Great Nadir are as stark as they are many. Once again, laws are being proposed to strip us from the access to the ballot box. Once again, the Supreme Court is postured to send us backwards rather than protecting the path forward. And once again, voting rights are under attack by the federal government.

I look around this room, and I know that we have a choice to make - whether we will allow partisan divides to enable the backsliding of our democracy, or if we're willing to stand shoulder to shoulder to protect the bedrock of our nation, the right to vote. So, what can we do?

First, we must block the SAVE America Act from advancing any further. As Senators, we have a responsibility to call it as we see it and to conduct oversight and expose executive overreach. And that's what this bill is: executive overreach that would undermine our right to vote across this country. Democratic senators, we plan to stand in its path. And I hope that some of my Republican colleagues will join us.

And to all of those watching at home. I want you to know there is strength in numbers. That your power lies in being educated and informed and organized and mobilizing. And in this moment, I stand here and say no to Jim Crow 2.0. I yield.

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Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester represents Delaware in the United States Senate where she serves on the Committees on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; Commerce, Science, and Transportation; Environment and Public Works; and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.