Maxine Dexter: “I thank my colleague for yielding and for his actions today. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak on one of my eight…”

“I thank my colleague for yielding and for his actions today. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak on one of my eight amendments to the SAVE Act, which will be offered as the previous question today. Let me be clear: The SAVE Act is an antiwoman, voter suppression bill. Under the guise of election integrity, the SAVE Act would penalize millions of women just for taking their spouse's name, requiring them to present additional documentation that many women don't have or don't have the resources to obtain to exercise their constitutional right to vote. My amendment would prevent this bill from being implemented unless we get certification that it would not bar a single married woman in this country who is eligible to vote from the ballot box. If this amendment fails, we are putting 70 million American women at risk of disenfranchisement. Seventy million is one in four voters in this country. This burden will fall hardest on women already forced to navigate broken systems with fewer resources and less time: working mothers, caregivers, women juggling jobs and families. I cannot believe that in the year 2025, I have to stand here on the House floor of the United States to defend a woman's right to vote, but I will. I will continue to stand here every single day if that is what it takes because this isn't theoretical. This is personal. It is for the mom in Gresham who can't take unpaid time off to track down new documents.…”