Senate Democrats blocked a key component of the SAVE America Act that, in the past, they have supported.
During the wee hours of Saturday morning, Senate Republicans tried and failed to get Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his colleagues to back a stripped back voter ID bill amid a spree of last-minute legislative business.
But Senate Democrats, including Schumer, have for years espoused support of identification to vote. Several states with Democratic senators have voter ID laws, too.
“Democrats support voter ID,” Schumer said in March. “In fact, we included it, and it is included, in our Freedom to Vote legislation several years ago.”
Schumer and his entire caucus voted against the bill from Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, nonetheless. Requiring identification is already the practice in 36 states. Of those, 23 require photo ID, while 13 accept another form of identification, such as a bank statement. Nine of those states have Democratic senators.
It was the last stand of the night for the Senate, which is gearing up to leave Washington, D.C., for several weeks of valuable campaign time in vulnerable incumbents home states.
And it comes as Republicans have so far tried and failed to find a path forward for the SAVE America Act, which Democrats, along with a handful from the GOP, have blocked numerous times in a variety of configurations.
Husteds bill would have prohibited state and local election officials from providing a ballot to vote in federal elections unless a person provided a valid form of identification.
Husteds bill teed up a plethora of options, including an unexpired drivers license with a photo, an unexpired state-issued ID card with a photo, a valid passport, a valid military or veteran ID with a photo or an unexpired tribal ID with a photo.
Its also not the first time Democrats have blocked it. In March, Republicans tested their support of voter ID for the first time in a vote to attach Husteds bill to the SAVE America Act. It failed on party lines then, too.
After it became clear that President Donald Trumps top legislative priority was not going to be passed nor even considered before lawmakers exit Washington, D.C., Republicans opted to take one last crack at Democrats’ resolve.
“We’ve got many Democrats, who have said, Im just fine with voter ID,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said. “Voter ID is a major component of SAVE America, and they’ve said that over and over again when we had it on the floor in late February and early March.”
“It was the argument that I heard from many of these people, as it was on the floor for hours and hours at a time, saying, I’m okay with voter ID, don’t like this,” he continued. “So we’re gonna find out where they are.”
Lee has been the loudest supporter of the SAVE America Act in the Senate, pushing and prodding his colleagues on X to get on board with passing the package.
Republicans had a chance earlier in the night to begin the work of crafting a version of the SAVE America Act with a budget blueprint that, if successful, would have teed up the partyline budget reconciliation process, but were called to stand down by Trump.
