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After the House passed legislation requiring all Americans to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote, Senate Democrats wasted no time making sure that the country knew that the bill was dead.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said in a statement:
Trump and Congressional Republicans are escalating their assault on American democracy through the noxious SAVE Act. Congressional Republicans are pushing a proposal that would coerce states into instituting policies that would effectively prevent millions of American citizens from voting, stymie automatic voter registration and derail in-person voter registration drives. It is an outrage.
We all support safe, transparent and secure elections. And countless studies have proved beyond a doubt that voter fraud is vanishingly rare. But Congressional Republicans want to disenfranchise millions of American citizens, seize control of our elections, and fan the flames of election skepticism and denialism.
Let me be clear, under my Leadership Senate Democrats will make sure this power grab does not pass the Senate.
It will require 60 votes to pass the SAVE Act in the Senate, which means that it needs Democratic votes. I don’t think there is a single Democrat in the Senate who would be willing to vote for this bill.
I don’t think the SAVE Act has a single Democratic vote in the Senate. I doubt the SAVE Act has enough votes to clear a filibuster to move on to a final vote.
The SAVE Act is an anti-voting bill and a long-time dream of Republicans to disenfranchise millions of likely Democratic voters across the country. It is a shameless power grab to destroy democracy.
It is also going nowhere because Democrats won’t allow it.
The power grabs are going to keep being attempted, and it will be up to Democrats and the American people to stop them at every turn.
What do you think of Senate Democrats vowing to kill the SAVE Act? Join the discussion in the comments below.
