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Feb. 9, 2026 - Ron Paul Liberty Report
25:42
Will The Senate Go 'Nuclear' Over Voter ID

Funding for the Homeland Security Department continues to be held up in the Senate. Among the issues dividing R's and D's is whether people should be forced to present an ID to vote. Related is the question of whether proof of citizenship should be required to register to vote. Have the Dems finally found an issue that resonates with Americans? Polls suggest otherwise...

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Time Text
Controversial ID Requirements 00:14:25
The spirit of this revolution is not going away.
This is the Ron Paul Liberty Report with Ron Paul, Daniel McAdams, and Chris Racine.
We're all ambassadors of the Ron Paul doctrine, and it's absurd.
Just tell the truth.
Thank you for tuning into the Liberty Report.
With us today, we have Daniel McAdams, our co-host.
Daniel, good to see you this morning.
Good morning, Dr. Paul.
How are you this morning?
Doing well.
All right.
Doing well.
We have a couple of things we'd like to talk about today.
Yes, we do.
Homeland Security, you know.
I guess we'll be talking about the Second Amendment.
Is that what we're going to be talking about?
No, that's the original Homeland Security.
Well, I guess we can mention it in a new way.
And I think that went on when I was in Congress and you were working with me and they wanted to pass this.
And how do you vote against the bill that's for Homeland Security?
Especially right after 9-11.
Yeah, yeah.
And I bet we didn't have much to say about the Second Amendment.
I bet they didn't give it.
Maybe there was a little bit of refreshing their memories on how the Second Amendment could be used.
They wouldn't have to start a whole new bureaucracy.
And it's going on.
And they have to have more money.
More money than it's up for grabs because you can't vote against Homeland Security.
They know they can get votes.
So where's the action?
What are you going to pile into it?
And in a token way, Republicans are supposed to be in charge, but authoritarians and military industrial complex people, those are the individuals that are really in charge.
But the Democrats are politicizing it.
I can't believe this, putting stuff on there.
And all of a sudden, another issue pops up, and that is the SAVE Act.
Put the SAVE Act on.
Maybe they can do something good.
Maybe they can make a point that you should be a citizen to vote for president in the United States.
You know, this is when that came up, I was just sort of outraged, but still am.
That there's a big discussion.
Should the people who are voting for president be a citizen of this country?
You know, I kept thinking, Daniel, if you don't have to be a citizen, are they going to give them absentee voting?
Yeah, no kidding.
And maybe they can gather up votes.
Anybody who wants to vote around the world.
I mean, that's how stupid the thing is.
But we do have a world empire, so I guess it makes sense.
But anyway, I guess both of them are interesting issues.
One, though, that's carrying the controversy is the Homeland Security.
And once again, it's back to the arguments we had to make before.
How do you provide security?
And there has been sayings, and I like to use it, the government wasn't made, even though most people accept it.
The government wasn't created to make us all safe.
And does that mean you don't have national defense?
No.
But if you accept an idea that they have to make us safe from ill nuisance, safe from anything happening to us, safe in our homes, the Constitution doesn't cover all that.
And yet it's a big deal.
I don't know the exact dollars.
I didn't look, but I bet you there's a bunch of money in this home security.
Homeland Security.
Daniel.
Well, the background is, of course, that, you know, they passed, I think, five or six normal appropriate bills.
And this is Congress's main job.
The other stuff is just grandstanding.
The main job is to fund the government.
That's what Congress is supposed to do, aside from other important things.
I think they did five or six of those regular probes, and then they did an omnibus to get most of the rest except for Homeland Security.
They gave them an extra couple of weeks to deal with Homeland Security because you have the ICE controversies, you have all of these things, the R's and Ds pretending to fight each other.
And so they passed the omnibus with a corrected dissent from Thomas Massey because it funded the rest of the government at Biden levels.
So here we are.
This is the last remaining thing to fund the government, and that's Homeland Security.
And so what do you have?
You have this sort of mostly ginned up opposition between the two parties because they're desperate for theater.
They don't want to make us more safe.
They don't want to protect the country.
They don't want to do anything.
They don't want to make things more efficient.
They want to fight and they want to get reelected.
And so that's why we're seeing a meltdown.
If you put that first one up, now over there in the Senate, Hedge calls it Dems melting down over voter ID as DHS shutdown talks hit the wall.
They need that 60 votes in the Senate by Friday to pass DHS.
So the Democrats and Republicans each issue their points of war, if you will.
If you go to the next one, here's what the Dems want.
And some of them are reasonable because we're not on either team.
They want to require judicial warrants signed by a judge before agents can make arrests in homes or private spaces.
Now, that's something that Judge Napolitano writes about all the time.
And that's something that our founders and our drafters of the Constitution were all in favor of.
Mandating body-worn cameras, although now they've changed their mind because that means you'll be able to see the protesters.
So they're kind of going back and forth on that.
Prohibit agents from wearing face masks.
That seems reasonable.
Other ones, et cetera, et cetera.
I think that's basic stuff.
Now, the Republicans, Dr. Paul, they are now, as you started, they want to add the SAVE Act in.
Now, if you remember, just a couple of days ago, when we talked about Thomas Massey, he actually put in an amendment to put the SAVE Act in the House side of the bill, and they blocked it.
They wouldn't let him do it.
If you put that next one up, here's what the Democrat or what the Republicans in the Senate are wanting to do.
They want to put the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register and then presentation of ID to cast the ballots.
It passed as a standalone vote last April, but it stalled in the Senate.
Massey tried to get it into this must-pass bill, quote unquote, and he was rebuffed by his own party.
GOP speakers, leaders like Speaker Johnson and Anna Paulina Luna are arguing it's necessary for election integrity.
Some Republicans also want restrictions on sanctuary cities, et cetera, et cetera.
So they want to put the SAVE Act in this must-pass bill.
The two important things are show proof of citizenship to register to vote.
And then when you get to the polling station, show your ID to vote.
And the Democrats, of course, are jumping on that as I guess it's somehow racist.
I don't know what.
I want to verify this.
So there was a poll done on it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And the numbers are a little bit surprising to me, but encouraging.
It says black voters, 76%.
They want voter ID.
And white voters, boy, I hate this poll.
Yeah, exactly.
I hate the report.
How are the blacks going to vote?
How are the Mexicans?
On and on.
Individuals vote.
Okay, white voters, 85%.
But what if you don't know if you're white or black?
Who knows?
Latino votes, 82%.
It looks like it's overwhelming.
So why politically are they willing to push this if it's not very popular?
This is the Democrats.
I mean, they don't mind losing to make a point to a very small layer of Democrat elites.
Why they don't win elections.
I actually happen to, I have a video clip on CNN of all places.
If you want to listen to this, admitting this, CNN of all places admitting that requiring an ID when you're in the polling station to get a ballot is not controversial.
Let's listen to this short clip from CNN.
Take a look here.
Favorite photo ID to vote.
85% of white people favor it.
82% of Latino.
76% of black Americans favor it.
So the bottom line is this: voter ID is not controversial in this country.
A photo ID to vote is not controversial in this country.
It is not controversial by party and it is not controversial by race.
The vast majority of Americans agree with Nikki Minaj that, in fact, you should have a photo ID to be able to vote.
So something interesting.
So even on CNN, they recognize this.
But, you know, Chuck Schumer doesn't.
He called the Save Act a Jim Crow 2.0.
So forcing you to prove that you can indeed vote, that you're on the rolls.
It still is bizarre.
And politics is crazy.
Here it's the CNN that's still reporting.
Doing decent reporting.
The left is doing it and it's dumb.
Well, like you say, they have other motivations and sometimes they're very short-lived and sometimes they're very minor.
But it's just a game they play because, you know, ultimately we complain because we think the parties are, you know, more or less the same.
But they evidently, you know, can still use it.
It's power that they want, political power, and how can they fool the people?
And it's propaganda, but sometimes it's a little bit stronger than propaganda.
Sometimes they would actually, you know, lie to the people.
That's pretty bad.
Yeah, it's hard to believe, but that's just, it's just the superficiality of the entire argument.
But I did find something neat, and I knew, and I know I'm going to surprise you, but I know you're going to like this because you mentioned something before the show.
But this is a great little graph, if you can put it.
I just found it on X.
I didn't research every single one, so don't, you know, don't get angry.
But put that next one up when valid IDs are required.
That chart.
Because people say, no, you shouldn't have to show an ID to go vote.
That doesn't make sense.
And here's all of the places where valid IDs are required.
Driving, boarding an airplane, purchasing a car, getting a car registration, buying a cell phone, renting a hotel room, on and on.
This is like 50 things, buying liquor, visiting a casino, et cetera, et cetera, going to jail, all of these things.
And then below it is when valid IDs are not required.
One word, voting.
So that's a great little chart there.
Everything.
There you go.
That's the one that just gets to me, you know, that you can't do this.
Everything you do, you have to have a voter ID.
But, you know, just watching bits and pieces of a football game that went on last night.
I said, there's a lot of people here.
They said maybe 70,000 people.
And they had to go through there and show something.
And nobody was boycotting.
Nobody was complaining.
Oh, here it is.
But it's a big deal just to be mischief.
But something, you know, halfway important, like, you know, who's legal to vote?
And the other thing that I don't like about it is that this is a demonstration and a consequence of the desire for pure democracy.
The founders weren't for this, you know, the vote, the vote, the vote.
Everybody has to vote unless we don't like them.
Yeah, yeah.
Like the outcome for it because there's so much corruption in it.
But this to me is an extremism of democracy in the worst sense that everybody votes.
And then what I try to make a little fun of it, you know, if you're allowed to vote and you're not registered, does that mean if foreigners could vote?
Yeah.
What if they're a legitimate voter?
What if they're taking a trip and they're in Russia someplace or China?
Can they vote from there?
What a system.
And I hope there's a clean vote on that to see how many people would vote against that.
Well, again, I mean, it is really theatrics because obviously, now we know without a doubt that being told you must show a photo ID to go and physically cast your ballot, that's not controversial in the U.S.
But the last thing that the Democrats are hanging up on is this idea that before that vote, before election day, when you go to register to vote, that you must prove that you're an American citizen.
Now, that is a big thing.
I don't see how that is any more controversial than just showing your ID on voting day.
Well, they want more foreign votes.
You know, no matter where they are and no matter who you are, I mean, it's democracy and you can't do it in a narrow little country like the United States and limit to a citizenship.
You have to be generous on the right to vote to who to run this country.
Well, I think there's been too many people voting for who the president is because we haven't been doing a very good job in the last several decades or even maybe longer than that.
And this whole idea of showing your ID to vote is not controversial anywhere else in the world.
I'm sure I told the story, but when I was an election server back in the 90s, I remember going through a extremely primitive village in Albania where they didn't have a single paved road.
It was all dirt roads.
It was all mud roads.
But I was there watching the polling at the station.
Every person in line pulled out their picture ID, even in a primitive village.
You probably didn't even have running water, showed their ID, made their vote.
So if they can do it there, I'm sure we can do it here.
Well, you know, I remember moving from one state to another.
And if you want to continue vote, you usually had to go someplace or register and you got a voter card.
It wasn't anything.
They didn't even make you have your picture on there then, but you'd have a voter card and you then go to the voter booth.
I remember, I guess, just up until not too many years ago, that's the way we voted, but not anymore.
It's a little bit confusing.
Not controversial.
Well, the second thing we want to talk about is going to shock our viewers, Dr. Paul.
U.S.-Iran Tensions Escalate 00:07:26
Our friend Bibi's back in town.
They need to charge him rent.
He's coming back.
He was supposed to be coming here next week on the 18th, but he called up Trump and said, you know, change the sheets in the Blair House.
I'm coming home.
He's going to be here on Wednesday.
And if you put that next one, here we go.
Thank you.
Dave DeCamp wrote it up.
Menanyahu will meet with President Trump in the White House on Wednesday as Israel is pushing for a new war with Iran following talks between U.S. and Iranian officials in Oman on Friday.
So basically, go to the next one.
Now, here's the issue, because, and it's actually very interesting.
It was Aleister Crook, and he was on with the judge this morning who pointed this out.
But essentially, these talks in Oman a few days ago, originally supposed to be in Oman, they were only between, they were only about the nuclear issue, the ballistic missiles we've talked about on the show, the Iran helping its allies in the region.
That was agreed to be off the table for these talks.
It was just supposed to be this.
And then Marco Rubio jumps up and says, no, we're going to move him to Turkey, to Istanbul, and the other things will be on the menu.
And that's when, and that's when Iran said, well, then we're not going to meet.
That's it.
It's not going to happen.
And so they backed down.
The U.S. was forced to back down.
So that's the issue now.
So the U.S. backed down.
They said, okay, let's just deal with the nuclear issue.
And Bibi flipped out and said, I'm coming to town.
Here comes the boss.
And so that's what's going to happen.
In spite of the fact that you're unpatriotic if you think along these lines, but when they worry about it, you can make a case for saying the Iranians see this as a defensive move.
I mean, they weren't the ones, you know, there was a time in their long, long history where they had an empire.
But in recent decades or 100 years, where do they have troops?
Do they have troops in Mexico on our border?
How many ships do we have around the world?
And I keep thinking that all a country has to do is just get hold of a couple missiles, these modern-day missiles and the control they have.
I would think about 20 well-placed missiles could eliminate that whole navy.
But it's still business.
I mean, no, we don't want anybody to shoot our boats up.
We'll try to stay away and stay out of range.
But that sort of game they play.
But that is so disgusting, as far as I can see, for the people doing this and putting up with this.
I just can't imagine them seeing the majority of Americans saying, well, they're bad people.
What about 9-11?
They were involved.
Well, maybe they weren't so involved in 9-11.
Those were the Afghans.
Or the Iraqis.
Yeah.
I mean, to those of us that say, well, you guys just hate Israel.
No, the fact of the matter is, if Bibi gets his war, he's getting very erratic.
He's got a lot of problems at home.
If Bibi gets his war, probably thousands of Israelis will die too.
So it's not that we don't care about these people dying.
We care about them dying too.
But also, there's going to be probably thousands of Americans dying, thousands of Iranians dying for what?
For no benefit to the U.S., zero benefit to the U.S.
But they claim and they brag upon this is going to be a limited, this is a little police action.
We'll be in and out of there.
And I understand Iraq is getting more involved and might even be joining in this battle going on right now.
And yet we spend a lot of money and a lot of lives.
You know, I saw some statistics.
Those statistics are terrible about a war we work so hard to try to prevent.
But, you know, all the spending and all the deaths.
And then I think you're implying that might what could come could be much worse than this because there's going to be a lot more countries involved because we're in a weaker position.
You know, we're still the king of the hill, you know, but we don't have the power financially anymore.
We don't have a dollar that's as strong as it used to be.
And but one thing, though, that we're very good at is we get away with carrying the biggest debt.
And because other people have to declare bankruptcy and quit using their money.
But no, we have been blessed by some maneuvering and rigging of some very shrewd people in our country after World War II to gain this power and having the reserve currency, which means we can print the money.
We can spend it.
We can do anything at this moment.
But people, the foreign countries are wising up.
And as soon as the connection is finally made with the American people, that all this nonsense and spending is the reason they're complaining about the number one issue.
It has to be economic issue.
It happens to be paying their bills and buying food.
They have to see the connection if we ever expect to solve the problem.
Well, Netanyahu is desperate to sink these talks.
We don't know the exact date of the next talks in Oman.
So he's coming in between the two rounds because he's desperate to get those missiles on the table.
You must insist that Iran is not allowed to have these ballistic missiles.
Well, it wasn't Israel that was sneak attacked.
It was Iran.
The Israelis did a sneak attack on Iran.
And now they're saying you can't have any missiles to defend yourself because we're going to come do it again.
And then they say, well, Iran is being unreasonable for not giving these up.
There's no country in the world that gives away its defenses.
It stimulates them to do exactly what we claim we're stopping.
And, you know, when they had negotiations and we've had them, it's not like it's a zero chance.
Right now, it's closely to a zero chance that they're going to get back together and have serious talks with Iran.
But there were efforts made and moving in that direction.
But we have to say the person that was not going to stop start war, they were going to stop him, has not done a very good job at building the right kind of relationships with Iran.
It's sad because, I mean, President Trump, you're right.
I mean, you didn't want to mention his name, but I was looking at X after the Super Bowl.
I guess it was this morning.
And here's Lindsey Graham.
I mean, he is snuggling and cuddling with Trump at every opportunity.
He played golf with him over the weekend on Saturday.
He did a selfie with Trump watching the Super Bowl together.
I mean, Trump hanging hanging around with people like that, who's just pushing for war, pushing for war.
It's just not what he was promised.
And then you have Netanyahu coming to town, you know, and they're pushing for a war that will get Americans killed that doesn't benefit America.
And everyone says, well, Israel's our greatest ally.
Why would your greatest ally do something that would really, really hurt you?
I mean, if it was your friend, you know, saying, here, try this narcotics.
They'll be good for you.
You'd, you know, say, what kind of a friend does that?
Trump's War Pushers 00:03:48
Well, it's hard to believe and it's hard to understand, but it's all going to end.
And I can't help but very often thinking about, you know, being very alert to what was going on in the Cold War, not only because it was big history going on that it affected my life, you know, by being drafted into that system.
And this is a big issue.
And I just can't imagine us pursuing this same type of policy of interventionism.
It's not complicated because people say, well, you know, the founders weren't and the early presidents weren't perfect, which is probably true, but they did a dog-on good job at least on understanding history and what type of a constitution might be beneficial if we can find the people who are willing to follow it.
And that, of course, is the contest still going on.
And of course, some people still work on that issue.
But right now, it looks like it's all going to end because it's not doable.
We can't stay in Kingpin forever.
The dollar is not going to last forever.
There's a limit to how much debt.
And the conclusion comes when the conclusion comes.
It's a big mess.
People are complaining now, but I think it's going to get to the point for the liquidation of all the mistakes, which is necessary to start real economic growth again.
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, I'm going to close out on this Monday with an announcement.
Mark your calendars, Dr. Paul.
We're very excited.
I know you're excited.
Our spring Ron Paul Institute Conference date has been established April 25th, just a couple months away down here in Lake Jackson, Texas.
It's beautiful that time of year, as you know, Dr. Paul.
Lots of wildflies.
I love the Texas wildflowers.
It's going to be a great, this is the yearly thing we do down here in Lake Jackson.
It's easy to come into Houston Hobby.
It's an easy drive down here.
And we always have great events.
We had David Stockwin last year.
We had Jimmy Duncan last year.
So I'll be announcing our speakers coming up here in a little bit.
And we'll have tickets on sale pretty soon.
But it's kind of a cozy event over there at the college.
It's a nice venue.
Everyone's in a good mood.
So mark that date on your calendar.
It's after Easter, but still nice springtime weather.
Mark those calendars, and I will have more information about it soon.
Very good.
It gives us an opportunity to practice a little bit about what I try to promote, and that is you have to be serious, you have to read, you have to understand why non-intervention and sound money and all the things we talk are very, very important.
But of course, I conclude that always is when you come together, especially when the like-minded people are together or individuals coming to find out more about it, that there are instructions from me.
If I could make those instructions, that is have fun doing it.
And so far, I think we've been pretty successful in this because I think that our functions that we have and our rallies and getting together, we talk about serious things, but we also are realistic that a little bit of fun is very important.
I want to thank everybody for tuning in today to the Liberty Report.
Please come back soon.
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And until next time, live free.
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