Scalise: We Must Protect the Sanctity of The Vote

Press Release

House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) joined CNN's The Lead with Jake Tapper to discuss President Trump's vision for America, including law and order, creating jobs, and fulfilling the promises he made to the hardworking men and women of this country.

Whip Scalise set the record straight on Speaker Pelosi's reckless attempt to undermine the integrity of our election system by trying to federally mandate universal mail-in voting without putting the necessary safeguards in place. Whip Scalise emphasized how Republicans are committed to ensuring that every American's vote counts, whether it's cast in-person or by mail-in ballot.

On President Trump's vision for the future of our country:

"I really want to just share what President Trump is like when you're working with him. I mean, I get to see how much he cares about people. I get to see how much he's fought and delivered for the hard-working men and women, especially the forgotten men and women of this country as we work to rebuild the middle class. Obviously getting through COVID, some of the things he's done even with Operation Warp Speed to help make sure that every federal agency is focused on fully removing red tape to address this crisis and then ultimately, rebuild the economy again. And obviously, I've seen some personal examples of his kindness and his caring, you know, when I was shot I know it was the night of the shooting he came to the hospital with Melania, the First Lady, and consoled my wife and was just wonderful to my family; and in those tough times, that's a side of the President a lot of people don't really get to see and frankly, I think it's something important for people to know about because that's the kind of person he really is. You know, it's not what you always see on TV, it's the person behind the scenes and how much he fights for and cares about people that I get to see."

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"Any [party] platform really does reflect the things, the points, that the candidate wants to make in any given election. And so, for President Trump, you saw what he ran on in 2016 and frankly, he's worked to deliver on so many of those things and obviously there's more we want to do and he lists that in the platform. It really is focusing on creating jobs, fighting for life, keeping our communities safe, those are all things mentioned in the platform. It's interesting, if you look at the Democrat platform they mentioned Donald Trump more than they mentioned jobs, or more than they mentioned racial equality, so I think that negative focus on the Democrat platform really shows that they're not fighting for people, they just don't like the President. But the President has been fighting and delivering for those forgotten men and women and I think they're going to be there for him in November, which is why I think he's going to get re-elected this November."

On protecting the sanctity of the vote:

"I've seen voter fraud up close. Look, in Louisiana we put an election commissioner in jail because he was stealing votes and running fraudulent elections and we cleaned that office up, by the way, so I've seen how it happens and it's real, it still happens to this day. If you mail ballots, Jake, to every single person on the rolls -- any Secretary of State will tell you, you'll have over a 10% error rate because that's millions of ballots, by the way, that will just be out there because people move around. Some people actually are on the rolls illegally, that's why we want to ensure the sanctity of the vote. [Speaker Pelosi] is trying to do that universally, Jake. Pelosi is still trying to make that a national law which would be reckless, it would be a recipe for disaster, let's make sure we fight for the sanctity of the vote."

On Speaker Pelosi's reckless attempt to mandate universal mail-in voting:

"I'm glad you acknowledged there is fraud. What we've fought against, and President Trump's been vocal about this, is a national mandate that you have to do that because some states might be better equipped than others to have a more wide scale mail-in voting.

"I'll send you the bill. Pelosi has tried to [pass universal mail-in voting] the last three months, she's literally brought bills to the [House Floor] to try to mandate that, and we've blocked it, but that's where [Democrats] want to go. What we would like to see is if somebody wants to request a ballot, we'll probably in Louisiana have 25% of our ballots cast by mail. We want to make sure that system's intact. You saw the Postmaster General testify today that they'll be able to handle that volume. They've got enough money to go through the middle of next year if we don't give them another dime. So, they're going to be able to handle that volume, and if some other states do it more widespread, as long as they can make sure that those votes are counted that are legal votes. You don't want votes that are illegal coming in."

On ensuring the integrity of our election system and voting legally:

"[Mail-in voting] ought to be there for every voter who requests it. You shouldn't mail a ballot to every single person that's not even legally on a roll. With people moving around, most Secretary of States will tell you over 10% of their voting roles are people that are not living at that address anymore and yet, ballots will be sitting out there. Why don't we make sure we protect the sanctity of the vote. [Mail-in voting] shouldn't be a federal mandate though, Jake, and believe me, Pelosi's filed a bill. The President's been engaged in that debate saying we shouldn't mandate that federally."

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"What I've heard [President Trump] talk about in the past is making sure that if somebody is voting, whether it's in-person or by mail, that you're protecting the sanctity of that vote. And, you know, picture ID is something that we require in Louisiana. A lot of states have that too, Pelosi's bill, by the way, would have taken that away -- the verification of the ID. So, let's make sure if somebody wants to request a ballot, they have that right and we're going to protect it. And, by the way, the Post Office ensured that that will be prioritized. They've got all the money they need to carry that out properly. I think that was one of the things that was at issue over the weekend, you know, where some people were trying to make an issue where it didn't exist. Those ballots are ready to go, if somebody wants to mail in their vote, or if they want to go in-person I would hope that would be available to them as well."

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