Jim Banks

Mr. President, Thanks · 125 wordsbefore I begin my remarks today, I must say that with a heavy heart I am grieving today for town marshal Brad Fisher, a 25-year law enforcement veteran who was tragically killed today in the line of duty in Indiana.¹ Marshal Fisher was assisting other officers in stopping a fleeing suspect when the suspect hit Marshal Fisher and ultimately killed him.² I am praying for Marshal Fisher, for his family, everyone in the town of Lynn, IN, and Randolph County. What a devastating loss, a tragic loss. May he rest in peace. And may we always remember the sacrifice that all of our men and women of law enforcement make when they keep us safe. I just want to take a minute and remember him.ThanksOff point Mr. President, Claims · 48 wordsPresident Trump recently confirmed what many of us already knew: Unearned certaintythat foreign adversaries like China are working daily to interfere in our elections and our democratic society. China especially seeks America’s decline in hopes that they can establish a world order that runs through the Chinese Communist Party, Promise · 15 wordsand we must do everything possible that we can to stop them from doing that.Vague promise Claims · 36 wordsHistorically, when countries have held that kind of ambition, they have started big, catastrophic wars. It should come as no surprise that the People’s Liberation Army is undertaking the largest peacetime military buildup in human history. The ask · 37 wordsThat is why it is incumbent upon this body to fully fund our military--including President Trump’s $1.5 trillion defense budget request that he has made of this body--so that we can deter exactly that kind of conflict.³ Claims · 34 wordsIt is outrageous that our colleagues on the other side of the aisle-- the Democrats--are holding up this bipartisan NDAA and budget request to fund our military when our military desperately needs our support. Reasoning · 16 wordsYet, even if we successfully deter a hot conflict, we could still lose in other ways. Claims · 57 wordsThat is because every day the CCP is waging economic and political warfare against us. The CCP is trying to nurture dependency, exploit our divisions, cause us to question the justness of our cause, and erode our democracy. This political warfare campaign is not confined to the shadows. In many cases, it operates out in the open. Procedure · 8 wordsJust take a look at Neville Roy Singham.Procedure Claims · 57 wordsSingham is a 72-year-old American tech mogul who sold his company and immediately fled to China.⁴ From his Shanghai office--which he shares with a CCP propaganda outlet--whose avowed mission, by the way, is ``to tell China’s story well’’--Singham began funding a complex network of leftwing NGOs and nonprofits that advance the interests of the Chinese Communist Party.<sup>5</sup> Procedure · 33 wordsTake a look at some of the radical organizations on this chart that he supports through the billions of dollars that he made selling his tech company to a Chinese Communist Party business.Procedure Claims · 156 wordsThis is all a matter of public record. Even the New York Times has marveled at the hundreds of millions of dollars that Singham-linked groups have funneled to radical nonprofits that ``mix progressive advocacy with Chinese Government talking points.’’⁶ Take one example that you and I know well--CODEPINK--you know, the radical organization that chases many of us around the hallways--around this building and our office buildings. You see, CODEPINK used to condemn CCP human rights abuses. But after Singham started lavishly funding the group--and then, by the way, he married its cofounder--CODEPINK stopped criticizing the Chinese Government and started defending it.⁷ In fact, in recent years, CODEPINK has even provided cover for the CCP’s shocking genocide in Xinjiang. Meanwhile, a newer Singham nonprofit called No Cold War is entirely dedicated to advocacy designed to ensure America is defenseless against the CCP’s economic, military, and political warfare. But the Singham network is not limited to China-specific advocacy. Positioning · 24 wordsSingham groups advance a wide variety of causes that are united only by their hatred of America, our allies, and the rule of law.Positioning Claims · 27 wordsFrom anti-ICE boycotts, violence against law enforcement, rioting, obstruction, and support for Hamas’ attempted genocide of Jews in Israel, Singham groups and their members advance division, chaos, Positioning · 12 wordsand hatred. All of this advances CCP interests and poisons our society.Positioning Claims · 26 wordsThankfully, under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Justice is now investigating this and whether Singham has been fueling this lawlessness in violation of U.S. law.⁸ Positioning · 7 wordsIt has been a long time coming.Positioning Claims · 104 wordsAt the same time, the State Department under Secretary Rubio is leading from the front in identifying leftwing violence and building an international coalition to confront it. It should come as no surprise that, as the CCP seeks to interfere in our society, it also seeks to interfere in our elections. As President Trump disclosed before the American people in a prime-time address earlier this month, China perpetrated the largest known compromise of United States voter information in history: ⁹stealing the personal data of over 220 million Americans in the 2020 election.¹⁰ The President also exposed ongoing vulnerabilities when it comes to America’s elections, Aside · 6 wordsand thank God he did that.Aside Procedure · 7 wordsAs one newly declassified intelligence assessment found: ¹¹ProcedureClaims · 8 wordsOur adversaries are actively coming for our elections, Positioning · 74 wordsand if that is not enough to sound the alarm--what you just heard from President Trump in his prime-time press conference and what I just shared with you--I don’t know what else is. All Americans--especially my colleagues in this body--should be outraged by this vulnerability. We know that our adversaries like the CCP seek to do us harm and yet we stand by and often do nothing about it. Our inaction has no excuse.Positioning Promise · 14 wordsWe need to safeguard our democracy, Vague promiseand we need to do it right now. The ask · 74 wordsIf this Chamber does anything at all this year, it must ensure that American elections are for Americans only--now and always. That is precisely why we have got to pass the SAVE America Act, and we have to pass it now, ASAP. In the face of the CCP’s coordinated campaign, we need more election integrity--not less.Vague promise We need to ensure that all votes in American elections come from Americans--not illegal aliens or foreign manipulation. Procedure · 22 wordsAnd by the way, it is not only because of our international adversaries that we need to pass the SAVE America Act.Procedure Claims · 42 wordsJust last week, a huge story hardly got any notice in the mainstream media. But the new Democrat Governor of New Jersey--a former colleague of mine in the House--she announced that 6,600 noncitizens were ``accidentally added to the New Jersey voter rolls.’’<sup>12</sup> Aside · 7 wordsThat is a hell of an accident.Aside Claims · 101 wordsBut not only that, she also told us that nearly 400 of those voters, who were accidentally placed on their voter rolls, actually voted in the last two elections in New Jersey.<sup>13</sup> Some of my colleagues keep saying that stories like this are a figment of our imagination. It doesn’t really happen. Illegals don’t vote in American elections. The Democratic Governor of New Jersey just told us it did happen. They keep saying that these stories are just, I suppose, ``accidents’’ or ``software glitches’’ is what the Governor called it. The fact of the matter is that these stories keep happening, Unearned certaintyPromise · 15 wordsand we need to do everything that we can to put an end to it.Vague promise Reasoning · 13 wordsIt destroys trust in our elections when Americans read about stories like that. The ask · 20 wordsIf we have to cancel the August recess to pass the SAVE America Act, so be it. Let’s do it. Positioning · 18 wordsProtecting our elections from fraud and international interference is a lot more important to me than vacation time.Positioning Claims · 24 wordsOur adversaries--like the Chinese Communist Party--will stop at nothing to distract, divide, disrupt, and destroy America. Their campaign is not confined to election day. Positioning · 8 wordsElection day is our last line of defense.Positioning Reasoning · 68 wordsAmericans must always be free to reject the CCP and its values, while choosing a path that embraces the timeless truths that have always been at America’s core. The day that the CCP chooses the outcome of our elections will be the day that it won. And by then, it will be way too late to correct course and pass a commonsense bill like the SAVE America Act. Promise · 6 wordsWe cannot wait for that day. The ask · 27 wordsI urge all of my colleagues to wake up. It is time to pass the SAVE America Act to save our elections, protect our country, save America. Positioning · 4 wordsIt is fundamentally important.PositioningOff point Procedure · 4 wordsI yield the floor.Procedure