Protecting Our Republic
On Monday, April 28, 2008, in a historic decision to protect our republic, the U.S. Supreme Court, by a 6 to 3 vote, held that an Indiana State law which requires voters to present a photo ID when voting is constitutional.
I have sponsored similar legislation during previous legislative sessions and have been successful in passing it out of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. The final legislation that we enacted, which is current law, was amended in the Senate to only require identification when a person votes for the first time at their polling location.
Earlier this year, I had my office prepare legislation to require photo ID for all voters. Currently, there are over two dozen state representatives who have agreed to co-sponsor the legislation with me, and we are planning to introduce it in the near future.
Voter Photo ID will protect against corrupt politicians, groups and individuals who might attempt to undermine our elections through the old time, “vote early, vote often,” program. In addition, State legislators, who are members of www.statelegislatorsforlegalimmigration.com, have expressed interest in advancing voter ID legislation to protect the integrity of our elections from being influenced by those who have invaded our country illegally. Since I founded State Legislators for Legal Immigration last year, the coalition has grown to include leading legislators from 34 states.
Earlier this session, I met with the highest ranking Pennsylvania Senator, Senate Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, to discuss our common interests in advancing legislation to address the illegal alien issue here in Pennsylvania. The hundreds of millions of dollars of cost to Pennsylvania taxpayers and the impact on our annual budget was part of the concerns that we discussed.
On April 8, 2008, the Pennsylvania Senate passed legislation designed to deny public benefits to illegal aliens. The Senate legislation shares the same objective as the legislation included in my National Security Begins at Home legislative package.
I will use the annual state budget debate that will occur over the next couple of months as an opportunity to call for the legislature to consider the impact of the illegal alien invasion on Pennsylvania taxpayer’s pockets.
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