Cruz to add voter ID amendment to immigration bill
(CNN) - In a move that could affect the prospects for the immigration reform bill, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, announced Monday via Twitter that he plans to file an amendment to the legislation that would allow states to require proof of citizenship before registering to vote.
His announcement came in response to the Supreme Court's decision Monday to strike down an Arizona provision in its voter registration law that required identification confirming citizenship.
If the senator's amendment goes to the floor, it could throw a wrench in the already-complicated immigration reform bill. A bipartisan group of senators have been pushing the bill
The 7-2 majority said the state's voter-approved Proposition 200 interfered with federal law designed to make voter registration easier.
The state called it a "sensible precaution" to prevent voter fraud. Civil rights group countered it adds an unconstitutional and burdensome layer of paperwork for tens of thousands of citizens.
- CNN's Ashley Killough contributed to this report.
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I guess he doesn't care that this could potentially clear up and clean up much of the immigration situation. How many American citizens have all the documents that some places like AZ are asking for? Some how I think the poor and unconnected are going to get the shaft if everyone is required to have these forms of ID.
The Canadian asking for papers in America. Only in America!
isn,t he the guy that was born in canada -deport him
And Ted Cruz really think he can become president? This guy is so far out there. Boy did Texas pick a winner. He just can't leave the bill alone. He has to make sure it fails by putting his own stamp on it.
@itmustbesaid
How about we return to what the founders had for voting requirements – white male property owners over the age of 21. Sounds about right for the Greedy Old Phools, eh?
Get a life Cruz.....
Isn't this guy Canadian? Let's deport him first.
It's ridiculous that you apparently don't have to prove you're a US citizen in order to vote in US elections.
Don`t we have an entire Federal Election Commission that we depend on to address topics like this? Honestly, Ted Cruz is hardly smart enough or has enough experience to be commenting on this topic and certainly not in a manor contrary to the substance of a Supreme Court ruling. Ted Cruz sullies the office of a Senator and he hasn`t even been there very long yet.
It takes few statements, sentences or verbal encounters with the republican candidates, to get to know the real person talking. They have little empathy, except for those with money, and they have no tolerance at all for those who don't. Just listen sometime using as much focus as you can stomach, and you'll get the real picture of the republicans, past present and future. You're not in the picture.
So, even if he is not born in US he is okay to run for Presidency ..... laws don't apply to him.
How are we supposed to make sure that 11 million illegal aliens are not voting in elections? The Federal Government refuses to do their job and deport them all.
The best thing that has happened to the Democrats. The Republics will get wiped in the next election.
What a hoot! The Republican Party is doomed with lunatics like this. Of course, he's from Texas so cut him a little slack.
Well someone needs to go back to Canada seeing as how much he seems to be against immigration reform...
It'll never pass the Democrat controlled senate. They need all the illegal votes they can get.
May be obama should agree with cruz. That would stop it. They wouldn't know what to do. Lmao
If the GOP cared as much about America as they do about themselves and their money are problems would get solved. But when $$$ money is your god and thats all that consumes you, then your going to do all you can to keep everyone poor and uneducated and not allowed to vote. God forbid they might want to share in the American dream.
Yes the Supreme Court shot down a state law that conflicted with a federal law. He is looking to change the federal law, which would stop the conflict meaning the state law would be perfectly legal in accordance with the decision made by the Supreme Court.
Why shouldn't we have to present a picture government issued ID to vote? We have to present one to fly in a commercial airliner. We have to have one to cash a check. We have to have one when presenting our insurance cards at the doctors office. We have to have one when registering at a hotel. We have to have one when making many purchases at stores and outlets. We have to have one at our banks. What is the big deal, especially when we are dealing with the integrity of our most basic right and privilege, voting?? Someone give me a same and honest answer, especially with all the everyday places and transactions where we have to have a picture government ID.
So, according to Cruz, the states must have a right to supercede federal law on voter registration so his side can benefit. The original suit was filed after a legal immigrant to this country was twice denied the right to vote after he became a citizen, even though he had all the appropriate paperwork that the state statute required. We know the last thing the GOP wants is more new Democratic voters in potential swing states, so, naturally, they turn to voter fraud as the reason to " defend the process". No examples of voter fraud in recent memory would have turned an election, but the GOP has insisted this is an imminent threat to our democracy. People must be registered to vote to their satisfaction, but they can only be GOP approved ahead of time. Someone one here described " adverse affects (sic) and consequences": spreading democracy and voting rights to all eligible citizens is an adverse effect? According to this line of thought, a legal citizen should be denied the right to vote because Ted Cruz and the frothing mob that was once known as the GOP are afraid they might not vote the way they want them to. For all the screaming about " Nanny State" and political correctness, this is the most blatant intrusion into our right to vote that I can imagine. ID requirements for a problem that has not affected the outcome of any national or statewide race in decades is nothing more than voter suppression. Deliberately creating an underfunded process to slow registration is voter suppression, period. Cruz is only doing this out of spite, and to play to the paranoia of scared people who see their fantasy world collapsing around them.
Once again the Republican negotiate in bad faith.