The bill would overhaul federal elections by cracking down on illegal immigrants voting and reducing voter fraud by requiring a valid ID to participate in federal elections.
Only Americans should be able to vote in American elections, and that is the goal of the SAVE America Act that President Trump is advocating to sign into law. The bill has stalled on Capitol Hill.
Democrats strongly oppose the bill, leaving Republicans with few options to maneuver around them in the Senate to pass the bill so President Trump can sign it into law.
“Because of the rules of the Senate, it’s very hard for them to get the number” of votes needed, Trump said on Thursday.
The SAVE America Act passed the House. It would require voters to present a valid photo ID to register to vote. States would also be required to clean their voter rolls of non-citizens.
On Thursday, an amendment that would require voters to show photo identification to vote failed to advance by a 53 to 47 vote. The vote came during the Senate’s second week of debate over the SAVE America Act.
“This radical amendment would toss out every single voter ID requirement in all 50 states for federal elections and put in an overly restrictive, one-size-fits-all approach,” said Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in a statement condemning the legislation.
Schumer argued that Democrats are not opposed to voter ID. “Our objection as Democrats is not to a photo ID,” he said. He referred to the legislation as “a naked attempt to rig our elections.”
“This is an issue on which there is broad agreement with the public, and obviously we’re going to give the Democrats an opportunity to vote on that one particular issue, and that is whether or not people ought to have to show some form of identification when they go to vote,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
Polling has indicated that Americans are largely in favor of requiring valid identification to vote in federal elections.
“This has always been a top priority for President Trump – he talked about election integrity frequently on the campaign trail and the American people sent him back to the White House to get it done,” said White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson.
The SAVE America Act is a part of President Trump’s efforts to secure election integrity in the United States by reducing the voter fraud that occurs in every election.
