Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / The Save America Act — FINALLY on the Floor of the Senate

Transcript

The Save America Act — FINALLY on the Floor of the Senate · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome.
• 0:00
  Speaker 2: It is verdict with Center, Ted Kruz, Ben Ferguson with
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: you Center. I can't believe it as we sit here,
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: it is official. The Save Act has actually made it
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: to the floor of the Senate. So what's going to
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: happen next?
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  Speaker 3: Well, after months of battling, the Save America Act is
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  Speaker 3: finally on the floor of the Senate. The Save America
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  Speaker 3: Act is basic common sense legislation that number one requires
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  Speaker 3: everyone registering to vote to prove their American citizen and
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  Speaker 3: number two requires.
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  Speaker 4: Photo ID in order to be able to vote.
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  Speaker 3: Vast majority super majorities of Americans support both of those requirements,
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  Speaker 3: and yet the Democrats are fighting against us with everything
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  Speaker 3: they got.
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  Speaker 4: I'm leading the fight to get it past.
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  Speaker 3: We're going to break down exactly what is happening with
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  Speaker 3: the Save America Act this week, right now on the
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  Speaker 3: Senate floor.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Before we get to that, though, there are so many
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: of you that listen the show that are truly friends
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: of Israel, and right now in Israel they need our
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: help and our support more than ever. And the IFCJ,
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews are doing amazing
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: work and you can have a difference right now, having
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: just come back from Israel, I want to paint you
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: a picture. It's midnight, sirens are blearing, and you have
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: only seconds to grab your child and run.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: Now imagine your elderly.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: Your legs don't work like they used to, Getting downstairs
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: feels impossible, and after all of that, you end up
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: in a bomb shelter for hours, even days, because you
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: can't make the trek again. This is what's happening across
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: Israel as Operation Epic Fury continues. Children are being traumatized,
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: families are just exhausted, and homes have been destroyed. And
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: that's why the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: there on the ground, bringing food, emergency equipment, care for
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: those children, and help for the elderly, and supplying the
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: bomb shelters and medical centers for critically needed essentials. If
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: you've ever wondered what it looks like to stand for
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: Israel and stand good against evil, this is it, and
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: that's why I'm asking to now please act, give forty
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: five dollars right now to rush life saving essentials to
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: the vulnerables under fire. You can also call eight e'
• 2:13
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  Speaker 2: eight eight. IFCJ join me and give and make a
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: real difference online at IFCJ dot org.
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  Speaker 1: That's IFCJ dot org.
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  Speaker 2: So, Senator, let's talk about just first the lay of
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  Speaker 2: the land and how we got to where we are
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  Speaker 2: day and the vote. There's a lot of people wondering
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  Speaker 2: what the vote was to move this forward. So now
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  Speaker 2: there's debate, and so tell us who didn't vote for
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  Speaker 2: this on the Republican side. It was a very tight vote,
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  Speaker 2: and also explain what's going to happen over the rest
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  Speaker 2: of this week.
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  Speaker 3: Well, the vote on the Senate floor to take up
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  Speaker 3: the Save America Act was fifty one to forty seven,
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  Speaker 3: so fifty one Republicans voted to take it up. The
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  Speaker 3: only no vote was Lisa murkows out of Alaska, and
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  Speaker 3: then Tom Tillis from North Carolina, who is retiring, did
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  Speaker 3: not vote, so he was not a no vote, but
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  Speaker 3: he didn't vote. Other than that, every Republican voter to
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  Speaker 3: take it up. And we're now in the midst of
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  Speaker 3: the battle. Now we can anticipate the Democrats are a
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  Speaker 3: hard no and so we're taking the case to the
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  Speaker 3: American people and trying to build support for it. And
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  Speaker 3: so I went to the Senate Florida lay out the
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  Speaker 3: case for why the Say of America Act is so
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  Speaker 3: critical and why the opposition for the Democrats is so ridiculous.
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  Speaker 3: And so here's what I had to say on the
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  Speaker 3: floor of the Senate this week.
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  Speaker 4: As president.
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  Speaker 3: Later this year, American citizens across the country will exercise
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  Speaker 3: one of their most valuable and sacred rights, the right
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  Speaker 3: to vote, a right that has been hard earned and
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  Speaker 3: fought for from the founding generation.
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  Speaker 4: Of our republic to today.
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  Speaker 3: And how is the right to self government the right
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  Speaker 3: to vote secured? It was secured by American colonists who
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  Speaker 3: rejected the royal edict and hurdled Tea into Boston Harbor,
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  Speaker 3: declaring no taxation without representation. It was secured by ordinary
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  Speaker 3: men who seized their muskets and fired the shot heard
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  Speaker 3: round the world at Lexington and Concord. It was secured
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  Speaker 3: by Continental troops who marched to the fields of Saratoga
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  Speaker 3: and the coastline of Yorktown, repeating those immortal words of
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  Speaker 3: Patrick Henry.
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  Speaker 4: Give me liberty or give me death.
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  Speaker 3: For nearly two hundred and fifty years, Americans have cast
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  Speaker 3: their votes for leaders at every level, from local officials
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  Speaker 3: to state representatives to the President of the United States.
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  Speaker 3: Every member of this body is here today because we
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  Speaker 3: were elected fairly and honest and given a mandate by
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  Speaker 3: our constituents to serve them here in Washington and to
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  Speaker 3: protect the liberties and freedoms our founders.
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  Speaker 4: Fought to preserve.
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  Speaker 3: The power of the ballot box determines the course of
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  Speaker 3: our nation, the history we are writing, and the freedoms
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  Speaker 3: that we continue to defend. And while no single ballot
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  Speaker 3: and isolation may seem decisive, together the votes of the
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  Speaker 3: American people shape the course of our nation and the
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  Speaker 3: course of history. But it is worth remembering that our
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  Speaker 3: voting system did not begin as it exists today. When
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  Speaker 3: this nation was founded, the right to vote was limited,
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  Speaker 3: and over time, through debate, sacrifice, a bloody civil war,
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  Speaker 3: and constitutional amendment, the right to vote was quite properly expanded.
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  Speaker 3: The fifteenth Amendment prohibited denying the vote based on, the
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  Speaker 3: nineteenth Amendment guaranteed women the right to vote, and the
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  Speaker 3: twenty sixth Amendment lowered the voting.
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  Speaker 4: Age to eighteen.
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  Speaker 3: At every stage of our constitutional amendment process, the goal
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  Speaker 3: was the same, to ensure that the right to vote
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  Speaker 3: belonged to American citizens and that it was exercised with integrity.
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  Speaker 3: And while our system has evolved, one principle has remained constant.
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  Speaker 3: Elections reflect the will of the American people for a
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  Speaker 3: right so sacred, for a privilege so hard fought.
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  Speaker 4: It is shocking.
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  Speaker 3: It is tragic how neglected and vulnerable the protection of
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  Speaker 3: our elections has become. That is why I'm here today
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  Speaker 3: on this very floor, urging the members of this body
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  Speaker 3: to pass the Save America Act. It says that when
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  Speaker 3: you register to vote in a federal election, you must
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  Speaker 3: provide proof that you are a citizen of the United States,
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  Speaker 3: and you must provide photo ID to vote.
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  Speaker 4: In simple terms, that's it.
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  Speaker 3: This is not some radical, politicized or weaponized piece of
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  Speaker 3: legislation design to restrict Americans from voting. It is a
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  Speaker 3: common sense measure that protects the integrity of our elections
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  Speaker 3: by ensuring that American citizens, and only American citizens, are
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  Speaker 3: voting in them. Legitimacy in a democracy rests on two pillars. First,
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  Speaker 3: the mechanical integrity of the system to produce a valid result,
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  Speaker 3: and second, the public's confidence in that system. If either
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  Speaker 3: one fails, the system falters. If both fail, the system collapses.
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  Speaker 3: A system that cannot be trusted is a system that
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  Speaker 3: cannot govern. If you look around the world, between two
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  Speaker 3: thirds and three quarters of countries require some form of
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  Speaker 3: identification to vote. Why because it safeguards the integrity of
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  Speaker 3: their elections and reinforces public trusts in their system.
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  Speaker 4: So it begs the question.
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  Speaker 3: Why hasn't the United States fully embraced this standard. Well,
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  Speaker 3: for the last several months, we have heard claim after
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  Speaker 3: claim about how this legislation would somehow inhibit people from voting,
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  Speaker 3: that requiring identification is discriminatory, that the American people do
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  Speaker 3: not support voter idmist president. Our Democrat colleagues are fond
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  Speaker 3: of bellowing into the TV cameras that photo idea of
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  Speaker 3: vote is Jim Crow, they tell us with mock earnestness.
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  Speaker 3: Now I will admit our Democrat colleagues should be experts
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  Speaker 3: in Jim Crow. Because it was Democrat politicians who passed
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  Speaker 3: the Jim Crow laws. It was Democrat politicians who founded
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  Speaker 3: the ku Klux Klan. It was Democrat politicians for decade
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  Speaker 3: after decade who enforced discrimination separate but equal poll taxes,
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  Speaker 3: and a host of other laws designed to prevent African
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  Speaker 3: Americans from voting. But do you know who has rejected
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  Speaker 3: their disingenuous claim that photo ID to vote is Jim Crow.
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  Speaker 3: The Supreme Court of the United States. Supreme Court of
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  Speaker 3: the United States, the state of Indiana passed photo ID
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  Speaker 3: law require hiring that you show a photo ID to vote.
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  Speaker 3: A group of left wing plaintiffs filed litigation challenging that.
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  Speaker 3: The case went all the way to the United States
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  Speaker 3: Supreme Court. At the time, I was the Solicitor General
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  Speaker 3: of the state of Texas. I led a coalition of
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  Speaker 3: states before the Supreme Court defending photo ID to vote,
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  Speaker 3: and the left wing plaintiffs made the same argument that
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  Speaker 3: our Democrat colleagues make today, that requiring photo ID to
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  Speaker 3: vote would somehow disenfranchised minorities. The Supreme Court, by a
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  Speaker 3: vote of six to three, rejected their argument. The author
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  Speaker 3: of the majority opinion was John Paul Stevens. John Paul
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  Speaker 3: Stevens was one of the great liberals on the court.
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  Speaker 3: He was not a conservative, he was not on the
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  Speaker 3: right wing. He was the leading liberal for years on
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  Speaker 3: the US Supreme Court. He rejected that claim and He
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  Speaker 3: pointed out that when someone votes illegally, they are stealing
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  Speaker 3: the votes of legal voter. They are stealing the votes
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  Speaker 3: of American citizens. The Supreme Court explained that when photo
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  Speaker 3: ID laws have been implemented, minority participation in the election
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  Speaker 3: goes up, not down. And the Supreme Court explained that
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  Speaker 3: requiring photo ID enhances the integrity of an election and
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  Speaker 3: the integrity of democracy. Now, our Democrat colleagues don't want
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  Speaker 3: to acknowledge any of those facts, and I guess it's
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  Speaker 3: understandable because the American people.
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  Speaker 4: Have heard their specious.
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  Speaker 3: Arguments and they have rejected them. Mister President, eighty one
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  Speaker 3: percent of Americans support requiring photo ID to vote. But
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  Speaker 3: my Democrat colleagues might say, what about African Americans, Well,
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  Speaker 3: about three quarters of African Americans in the United States
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  Speaker 3: require support requiring photo ID to vote.
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  Speaker 4: How about Hispanics?
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  Speaker 3: More than eighty percent of Hispanics in America support requiring
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  Speaker 3: photo ID to vote.
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  Speaker 4: How about Democrats? He's an astonishing statistic.
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  Speaker 3: If you get out of elected office, if you ask
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  Speaker 3: a Democrat on the street, seventy percent of Democrats in
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  Speaker 3: America support requiring photo ID to vote. The one group
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  Speaker 3: that doesn't are elected Democrats in the United States Senate
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  Speaker 3: in the United States House. And by the way, the
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  Speaker 3: premise of their argument that minorities, if you require photo
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  Speaker 3: ID to vote, are not going to be able to vote,
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  Speaker 3: is frankly insulting. Mister President, I'm proud to be an
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  Speaker 3: a Hispanic American. I've been in Hispanic all my life. You
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  Speaker 3: know what I've got in my wallet? I have a
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  Speaker 3: driver's license.
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  Speaker 4: I look at my.
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  Speaker 3: Colleagues across the way, I feel confident they have drivers'
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  Speaker 3: licenses in their wallets as well. Hispanics are not morons.
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  Speaker 3: African Americans are not morons. And when you claim minorities
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  Speaker 3: can't figure out how to get a driver's license, well gosh,
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  Speaker 3: what do you need a photo ID to vote?
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  Speaker 4: To do? Right now? In America? You need a photo.
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  Speaker 3: ID to purchase alcohol or to purchase tobacco. You need
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  Speaker 3: a photo ID to gamble or purchase lottery tickets. You
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  Speaker 3: need a photo I D to go into a bar.
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  Speaker 3: You need a photo ID to get on a plane.
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  Speaker 4: You need a photo ID to rent a car. You
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  Speaker 4: need a photo ID just to drive a car. Not
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  Speaker 4: even to rent a car.
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  Speaker 3: Drive a car, you need a photo ID to apply
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  Speaker 3: for government benefits. You need a photo ID to enroll
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  Speaker 3: in college. You need a photo ID to open a
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  Speaker 3: bank account. You need a photo I D to check
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  Speaker 3: into a hotel. And I gotta admit this is my
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  Speaker 3: personal favorite. You need a photo ID, actually two photo
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  Speaker 3: id's to shovel snow in New York City. These are routine,
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  Speaker 3: every day activities.
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  Speaker 4: The gallery is full.
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  Speaker 3: I feel confident everyone in the gallery who is not
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  Speaker 3: a child has a driver's license. And by the way,
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  Speaker 3: you wouldn't be admitted to the gallery if you didn't.
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  Speaker 3: And I feel confident every member of this chamber has
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  Speaker 3: done just about anything I listed, well, except shoveling snow.
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  Speaker 3: I'm not convinced many of my colleagues of snubble show
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  Speaker 3: ah they do shovel other things. The question is not
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  Speaker 3: whether Americans are bright enough to obtain photo ID.
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  Speaker 4: We know they can't, and we know they do.
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  Speaker 3: The real question is why would we not require the
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  Speaker 3: same level of verification for something is consequential and vital
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  Speaker 3: is voting. Are our Democrat colleagues saying voting doesn't matter
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  Speaker 3: or is it something else? Voting is not just another
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  Speaker 3: everyday activity. It rolls around every year a few years.
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  Speaker 3: It is the vehicle that protects the principles of our
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: republic and safeguarding what matters. This legislation is necessary because
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: they're individuals and systems that can undermine confidence in our
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  Speaker 3: elections if proper safeguards are not in place. And one
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  Speaker 3: of the most apparent ways that we've seen is through
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: the masses of illegal immigrants that our Democrat colleagues let in.
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  Speaker 4: Through open borders.
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  Speaker 3: Over four years during the Biden administration, more than twelve
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  Speaker 3: million illegal immigrants flooded into this country, the vast majority
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: through my home state of Texas. Now, mister President, understand
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  Speaker 3: that was not an accident. That was not something the
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: Democrats could not stop. That was their desired outcome. How
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  Speaker 3: do we know that Because the President Trump was sworn
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: into office for his second term, illegal border crossings plummeted.
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  Speaker 4: Ninety nine percent overnight.
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  Speaker 3: The Democrats said, no, Joe Biden can't secure the border.
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  Speaker 4: He needs new legislation. We now know.
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  Speaker 3: That was a lie. It was objectively false, and they
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  Speaker 3: knew it was false. Well, if they could have secured
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  Speaker 3: the border for four years and they chose not to,
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  Speaker 3: they chose to let murderers into this country. They chose
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: to let rapists into this country. They chose to let
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  Speaker 3: child molesters into this country. They chose to let gang
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  Speaker 3: bangers into this country. They chose to let terrorists into
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  Speaker 3: this country. We've had four radical Islamic terror attacks in
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  Speaker 3: the last two weeks.
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  Speaker 4: Why, mister President, would the Democrats choose to allow more than.
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  Speaker 3: Twelve million illegal aliens to invade this country? And I'm
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  Speaker 3: going to suggest the obvious reason, because the Democrats look
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  Speaker 3: at those illegal aliens and they want them to cast
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  Speaker 3: vote for Democrats in federal elections. Why are the Democrats
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: lined up and say, no, no, no, under no circumstances
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  Speaker 3: should we test to see if you're an American citizen?
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  Speaker 4: Under no circumstances should we require photo IDs.
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  Speaker 3: You know, there was one activist a few years ago
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  Speaker 3: who filmed himself going into a DC polling place. DC
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: polling place said sir, what's your name? And he said,
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: my name is Eric Holder. Now, this activist was not
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: the Attorney General of the United States at the time,
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: but yet DC handed him a ballot and said, mister Holder,
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: please cast your vote. The Democrats are lined up in
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  Speaker 3: this chamber because they want our elections to be insecure.
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  Speaker 4: They want voter fraud to be rampant and to be easy.
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  Speaker 3: Ask yourself, do the American people have a difficult time
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  Speaker 3: buying a beer? Do they have a difficult time getting
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: into an R rated movie? Do they have a difficult
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: time getting on airplane? Well? Yes, because the Democrats have
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: refuses to fund the TSA and so they're long lines
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  Speaker 3: right now. But the lack of a photo ID is
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  Speaker 3: not an impediment that stops.
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  Speaker 4: People from flying.
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  Speaker 3: This debate is about something very simple. Do our elections matter?
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  Speaker 3: Does our democracy matter?
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  Speaker 4: That?
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  Speaker 3: Boy, mister president, I gotta say that is a phrase.
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  Speaker 4: The Democrats love that they are defending democracy.
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  Speaker 3: It's interesting their voice usually drops an octave when they
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: say that.
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  Speaker 4: They clutch their pearls. And that's just the men.
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  Speaker 3: Defending democracy, is what they say. Ask yourself, why are
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: they not concerned at all about twelve million illegals who
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: they let into this country voting illegally.
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  Speaker 4: I'll submit.
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  Speaker 3: Ockham's raisor provides. The simplest solution is usually the right one.
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  Speaker 3: The simplest solution.
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: Is very clear.
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  Speaker 3: The Democrats in this body want illegals to vote for them.
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  Speaker 3: They want power enough that they are more than happy
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  Speaker 3: to undermine democracy.
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: To try to seize power.
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  Speaker 3: I get that from their personal self interest, but it
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: is not in the interest of the men and women
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: they represent. It is not in the interest of the
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: people of America. This bill is rightly called the Same
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: America Act. And mister President, if we were voting on
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: the merits of what was good for America, what was
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: good for democracy, what was good for American citizens, the
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: vote would be.
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  Speaker 4: One hundred to nothing.
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  Speaker 3: Although I would note on the other side of this building,
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: at the State of the Union address that you were
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: at that I was at, we saw why our Democrat
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: colleagues are so adamantly opposed to this bill. President Trump
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: turned to the Democrats on the right side of the
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: floor of the House, and it gave him an opportunity
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: to demonstrate with absolute clarity. He said, if you agree
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: our first priority should be to fight for American citizens
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: and not for illegal aliens, Please stand, and every single
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: Democrat in Congress remain seated, not a one of them.
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  Speaker 3: I would notice we're on the floor today. Of the
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: forty seven Democrats in this body, only one.
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: Is here on the floor. But a whole lot more.
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  Speaker 3: We're on the florid During the State of the Union,
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: every one of them chose to remain seated because they
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: could not support the statement that we need to support
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: American citizens and not illegal aliens.
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  Speaker 4: That's why they oppose the.
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: Save America Act, because they want to be handed power
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: over this country by the illegal aliens they led into
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: this country. That's why we need to save America, and
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: it's why I urge every member of this body to
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: pass the Save America.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: Act, Well said Senator.
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  Speaker 2: And so now the big question is for everyone I
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: know that's listening or watching on YouTube, what's next and
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: where does this move from here?
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: Look, what should happen is we should have Republicans stand together,
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: should force the Democrats to do what's called a talking filibuster. So,
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: throughout most of the history of the Senate, a filibuster
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: involved the right.
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: Of unlimited debate.
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: It involved the right to stand up and talk and
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: talk and talk. Think about Jimmy Stewart and mister Smith
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: goes to Washington where he talks and he's pulling a
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: tie and he's falling over and he's like standing there
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: valiantly battling against bad legislation, or for that matter, what
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: I did in twenty thirteen, where I filibustered Obamacare and
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: talked for twenty one hours and stood on the Senate floor.
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: And by the way, when you're filibustering, you cannot sit down,
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: you cannot leave the floor, and you cannot use the bathroom.
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: Which is the most frequent question.
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: I get trivia point. So before I did that filipbuster,
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: Rand Paul had done a filibuster earlier in the year
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: for eleven hours, and I was fixing to get ready
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: to do it, and so I asked Rand if he
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: had any.
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: Advice, and he had two bits of advice. He said.
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: Number one, he said, wear comfortable shoes. So I have
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: to admit I wear just about every day, by the way, yeah,
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: just about every day in the Senate, I wear boots,
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: cowboy boots. I went and bought a pair of black
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: tennis shoes that I wore for my twenty one hour filibuster.
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: And I confessed at about two in the morning to
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: the people of Texas, I said, look, I'm embarrassed. I
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: lacked the strength of character or the strength of foot
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: to stand here twenty one hours in my boots. So
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: I'm wearing tennis shoes, and I said, I hope the
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: people of Texas will give me forbearance and forgive me.
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: But then second Ran said, he said what took him
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: out at the end of the day was not his
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: legs but his bladder. That after eleven hours he just
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: had to go. And I don't know about you, but
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: I'd never tried to go twenty one hours without going
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: to the bathroom.
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: I wasn't sure how that would go.
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: And in the entire course of the filibuster, I drank
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: one tiny little glass of water, and the basic principle
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: nothing in, nothing out. I just take a tiny sip
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: every hour or so and just kind of wet my throat.
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: But you had to stand there and talk and talk
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: and talk. That is exhausting.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: By the way, you cannot lean on the lectern.
• 24:10
  Speaker 4: Right, No, no, you're you're not allowed to lean, so
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: you can't.
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: And even if someone comes to like give you or
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: ask you a question. There's a famous scene for people
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: that are West Wing watchers where somebody they were trying
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: to get a message the guy that was doing a filibuster,
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: and the guy walked in he said, may I ask
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: a question?
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: In essence, it was you know, some official way of
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: doing that.
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: But you can't lean on the on the lectern because
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: if you do, that's it right, Like you can take
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: a question to rest your.
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean the chair can call it, so you
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: can do. So what will happen when you're doing a
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: filibuster is other senators will come in and ask will
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: the senator yield for a question, and you can say yeah,
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: and you can say I will yield for a question
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: without yielding the floor. And then if it's an ally
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: of here. So for example, Mike Lee was on the
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: floor all twenty one hours I was there. He stayed
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: with me the whole time. So several times at two or.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: Three of one, no wonder, he's your best friend in
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: the Senate.
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: Okay, Now, I and I had a number.
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: I had about a dozen senators who came and spelled
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: me for a period. Because when you're talking for twenty
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: one hours, your voice starts to hurt. So the thing
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: you will do is is Mike would ask would you
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: yield for a question, and I say, well, yield for
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: question about yielding the floor, and then he'd talk thirty
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: minutes and he'd get up and he'd like give a
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: you know, da da da da da, and like like
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: at three in the morning, we went through like seventies
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: rock songs and horrible puns and jokes. And then after
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: thirty minutes, you know, you can say, wouldn't you agree?
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: And that's the question you ask. And so it's a
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: way to give some relief. By the way, many people
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: remember during.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: That if he sat down during the twenty one hours, right.
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: He can sit down. You know, anyone else can sit down.
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: It's just the person that has the floor that can't
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: sit down. And a lot of people remember that during
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: that filibuster, I read Green Eggs and Ham. What they
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: don't necessarily remember is why I read Green Eggs and Ham.
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: And at the time, our daughters were worth three and five,
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: and when I was home, I would read them bednights,
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: you know, bedtime stories every.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: Night, bedtime stories.
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, And so as I was doing the filibuster,
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: it was their bedtime, and so we called home and
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: told them turn on the TV and turn on c SPAN,
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: and I read them Green Eggs and Ham because it
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: was their bedtime story. And they were my favorite picture.
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: You've seen it. It's in my office. Oh yeah, it's
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: a picture of the two little girls.
• 26:31
  Speaker 4: They're in matching pajamas. They're three and five.
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: And Catherine, the three year old, she has her hand
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: on the TV and she's watching in wonderment as her
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: daddy is reading her Green Eggs and ham on the
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: television set. And the look is just awesome. And then Caroline,
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: And you know Caroline, she's now seventeen, she was just five,
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: and she is She is a strong willed and spirited kid.
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: My fourteen years in the Senate, nothing I've done Senate
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: has impressed her except that.
• 27:02
  Speaker 4: And she is in that picture racking up laughing.
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: I mean, she thinks it's the funniest thing she's ever seen.
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: And when I came home that weekend, she looked at me,
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: her arms were crossed and she said, Okay, Dad, that
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: was pretty cool. But that's a philippment. By the way,
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: you want to fund that the true filibuster. Okay, you
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: want a fund bit of color.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: At like nineteen twenty hours into it, Glenn Beck, who
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: you and I are both friends with, Glenn texts me
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: and says, man, you look too damn good. Your tie
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: is all there, your hair is comb You don't look disheveled.
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: Damn it, you need to look more like mister Smith
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: goes to Washington. So I have to admit I looked
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: at it. Glenn's got a good sense of like telling
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: a story. So I yanked my tie and I don't
• 27:49
  Speaker 3: think I messed up my hair, but I at least
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: loosened the tie and tried to look a little more disheveled.
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: After twenty one hours, you know, you shouldn't look like
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: you're just just popping out of bed.
• 28:00
  Speaker 4: That is exhausted.
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: But I didn't realize that you could have your phone
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: out during the filibuster.
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: That's actually interesting.
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: You're not supposed to. So technically the Senate rules, you're
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: not allowed to have electronics on.
• 28:11
  Speaker 4: The Senate floor.
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: Everyone violates that rule, so everyone has their phone, and
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: that's just a rule that is routinely ignored.
• 28:18
  Speaker 4: By the way, did.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: You try to hide it, though I did try at
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: that point.
• 28:24
  Speaker 4: You don't.
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: You don't visibly do it while you're speaking, but you
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: can do it. It may have been during one of
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: the questions that I noticed, like I was looking at
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: the text and Glenn had sent me a text. By
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: the way, interestingly enough, during the speech that we just played.
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: So the Senate Parliamentarian, Jim Banks, Republican from Indiana, was presiding.
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: The Senate parliamentarian tried to convince him to sanction me
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: under Rule nineteen of the Senate Rules for impugning the
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: integrity of another Senator, and really and thankfully he just
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: told her go jump in a lake. I'm not going
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: to do it. And apparently she was mad because I said,
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: you know, it's not surprising that the Democrats are experts
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: on Jim Crow because they wrote the Jim Crow Laws
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: and they founded the KKK. And she thought that was
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: terrible for me to point out what are undeniable historical facts.
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: She thought it was somehow a violation of the Senate
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: rules to speak the truth. I have to admit the
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: parliamentarian previously, years ago, tried to get me to Rule
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: nineteen to rule that Mike Lee had done the same thing,
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: and I laughed at and said, no, I'm not going
• 29:32
  Speaker 3: to do that either.
• 29:36
  Speaker 4: You know, thankfully it.
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: Texts her stun thing. There's history to stebborn things sometimes, so.
• 29:41
  Speaker 3: Look a standing and talking filibuster is exhausting.
• 29:46
  Speaker 4: It takes a lot of energy, it takes a lot
• 29:48
  Speaker 4: out of you.
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: Under the Senate rules, each Senator is limited to two
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: speeches in a legislative day total. Now the Senate and
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: keep a legislative day going for weeks. A legislative day
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: goes until you adjourn the day. So if you look
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: at during the Civil Rights Act, yes, it can be weeks.
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: If you look at the Civil Rights Act in nineteen
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: sixty four, the Democrats filibustered against it. They were opposed
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: to it, they wanted segregation, and the leadership there forced
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: kept the legislative day open for weeks and kept forcing
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: them to filibuster and talk and talk and talk and talk,
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: and eventually it wore them down. And that's how the
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: Civil Rights Act in nineteen sixty four got passed. So
• 30:37
  Speaker 3: what I had been arguing to the conference at length,
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: we had to do the same thing. We had to
• 30:40
  Speaker 3: force the Democrats explain why you think illegal aliens should
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: be voting, Why you think that it's okay that you
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: need an ID to buy a beer at a bar
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: but not an ID to vote, and make them drive
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: them to the principle of exhaustion, drive them to the
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: point that they just can't fight anymore. Here's the rub
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: to do that Ben, we need fifty Republicans willing to
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: stand strong. To date, we haven't had that. We've been
• 31:08
  Speaker 3: arguing about this within the conference for several weeks. I
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: have been making the case as impassioned as I can
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: to my colleagues, and we are likely just short of fifty.
• 31:20
  Speaker 3: So if that doesn't change, what's going to end up
• 31:23
  Speaker 3: happening this week is we're going to vote again on
• 31:28
  Speaker 3: the Save America Act. Fifty or fifty one Republicans will
• 31:32
  Speaker 3: vote for it, but we'll need sixty unless we force
• 31:35
  Speaker 3: them to do a talking filibuster.
• 31:37
  Speaker 4: So it will fail this week unless something changes significantly.
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: That's infuriating, and so I'm calling on my colleagues, come on,
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: let's stand together and fight. And I'll tell you one
• 31:47
  Speaker 3: of the arguments my colleagues have used with me. They've said, look, ted,
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: if we fight and at the end of the day lose,
• 31:55
  Speaker 3: people will be discouraged and demoralized and they'll stay home
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: in November. And my response is, well, and I do too.
• 32:04
  Speaker 3: And my response was, look, Okay, maybe we lose. It's
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: not guaranteed one hundred percent victory, but you know how
• 32:11
  Speaker 3: you can guarantee one hundred percent losing. Don't fight, Like,
• 32:15
  Speaker 3: if we don't fight, it's one hundred percent that we lose.
• 32:18
  Speaker 3: So if we stand up and we fight and we're
• 32:21
  Speaker 3: all there there all night and we're battling, we're battling,
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: we're battling, and at the end of the day we
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: come up short, that gives people a lot more reason
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: to vote that if we don't get fifty, who are
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: even willing to fight? And so I think there's a
• 32:34
  Speaker 3: lot of frustration.
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: So to be clear, to be very clear for everybody
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: listening to do what you're advocating for, which is to
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: for sustaining filibuster, how many votes do you have to
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: have to get to that.
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: You've got to have fifty Republicans who will stand together,
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: because the fifty Republicans have to number one. Anytime the
• 32:52
  Speaker 3: Democrats want to they can suggest the absence of a quorum,
• 32:56
  Speaker 3: and we have to be able to produce fifty bodies.
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: Oh, everybody's got to be there. So everybody's got to
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: be there.
• 33:01
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you've got to physically be able to.
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: Could go for to be queer, that could go, as
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: you were saying, for days, right.
• 33:07
  Speaker 4: For days or weeks?
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: Yes, And in other words, there's some senators in the
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: Republican Party that just would rather go home. Yeah, we'd
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: rather go home on Thursdays like they always do. They
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: don't want to stay over the weekend. They don't want
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: to fight for this for a week or two.
• 33:21
  Speaker 3: And secondly, the Democrats can tee up amendments and try
• 33:25
  Speaker 3: to force votes on amendments. And we got to have
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: fifty Republicans that reject their amendments, that stand together, and
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: right now we have I don't know, forty seven, forty eight,
• 33:34
  Speaker 3: but we don't have fifty. And so we're having an
• 33:36
  Speaker 3: arguments with a handful who are saying no. And I
• 33:41
  Speaker 3: hope it changes, but right now, right now, we don't
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: have fifty.
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: Love, generosity, and compassion. We say those words all the time,
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: and they sound good, they feel good.
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: But here's the truth.
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: Those words don't mean anything unless they turn into action,
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: and right now, not later, today, not tomorrow. There's a
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: child in the world who doesn't know if they'll eat,
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: if they'll have a chance to learn, or if there's
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: any hope at all. And while we're all busy, life
• 34:14
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• 34:18
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• 34:22
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• 34:36
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• 34:40
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• 34:45
  Speaker 2: That's Compassion dot com final question on this one. When
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: will the American people know? What day will you guys
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: make this decision on either trying to vote for that
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: or just having a straight up vote that you know
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: you're gonna come up short on.
• 35:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, if nothing changes, we will likely vote, have the
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: final vote on Thursday of this week, and we will
• 35:07
  Speaker 3: end up probably with fifty to fifty one fifty two
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: votes for the Save America Act, but we'll need sixty
• 35:13
  Speaker 3: and so the vote will fail if nothing changes.
• 35:16
  Speaker 4: That's where we're headed.
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: And then do you expect the present to weigh in
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: heavy on the strategy here? Does he know these two options?
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: And how much influence would I have if the President
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: came out and said, you know, damn it, men and
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: women stay in Washington, DC and fight this thing out
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: and let's see what happens.
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the President has said that multiple times, and that
• 35:35
  Speaker 3: has been a significant part of the argument. But we
• 35:38
  Speaker 3: still at the end of the day, you can't wave
• 35:41
  Speaker 3: a magic wand and produce the votes, and we're still
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: frustratingly short of fifty.
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: It's very interesting and very frustrating for many Americans. Don't forget.
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: We do this show Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Hit that
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: subscriber auto download button. We will keep you update all
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: week long on this and if something major happens, we'll
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: probably do a number and see pot as well in
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: the center and I will see you back here in
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: a couple of days.