WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) denounced President Trump and Republicans’ efforts to disenfranchise voters with the so-called ‘SAVE America Act’ from the floor of the U.S. Senate. Welch highlighted how this reckless bill would block millions of U.S. citizens from voting—disproportionately impacting women, people of color, seniors, and rural voters—and make it harder to register and vote by disrupting online registration and eliminating universal mail-in voting.
“The Save America Act in any form—as it’s drafted—would block millions of U.S. citizens from voting. We can have reasonable ID requirements, like allowing U.S. citizens to register with a driver’s license or a military ID—several states have them. Vermont does not have that, except at the initial point of registering, and we have such good, high-level participation by voters and basically zero election fraud. But voter registration should permit all eligible citizens, and only eligible citizens, to register to vote and vote in federal elections. That’s already federal law. That is not what this ‘Save America’ legislation does,” said Senator Welch.
Senator Welch concluded: “The Trump Administration has been on a furious effort to silence citizens and deny them our most fundamental constitutional right—the right to vote. The ‘show your papers’ requirement is an attack on the freedom to vote. Congress should stand firm to protect the right of all of our citizens to vote and reject the SAVE America Act.”
Watch Senator Welch’s full remarks below:
In February, Senator Welch joined Senate Rules Committee Democrats for a public forum underscoring how President Trump’s unconstitutional threats to “take over” federal elections and Republicans’ SAVE America Act endanger the voting rights of millions of Americans and jeopardize the integrity of U.S. elections. Senator Welch is a long-time supporter of the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, legislation that would update and restore critical safeguards of the original Voting Rights Act of 1965 that have been eroded in recent years by federal court rulings.
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