Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is likely to introduce several amendments, including individual aspects of the overall bill for votes, such as dramatically curbing mail-in voting, requiring an ID to vote in all federal elections, and limiting school sports teams to participation based on boysâ and girlsâ biological sex at birth.
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote and a photo ID to cast a ballot. The measure is unlikely to pass the Senate, where Republicans do not have the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster in the 100-member chamber.
With all Democrats expected to block the bill, Republican lawmakers have initiated an extended floor debate to draw attention to Democratic opposition to voter ID requirements.
Public opinion polling has shown broad support for voter identification laws across a range of voters, including those from both major political parties, The Detroit News reported.
âWeâre going to put every one of them on the record so that everyone in America knows that Republicans support voter ID and Democrats are the party of open borders and illegal voters,â Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the chamberâs No. 2 Republican, told reporters.
Democrats have falsely claimed that the voter ID requirements would âdisenfranchiseâ tens of millions of women and minoritiesâa typical talking point they often use to oppose GOP-backed legislation.
Some have even gone as far as labeling the SAVE America Act âJim Crow 2.0,â though Democrats widely implemented so-called Jim Crow laws that enforced racial segregation following the Civil War and throughout most of the 20th century until they were overturned by the 1965 Civil Rights Act.
Democrats have also tried to claimâwithout evidenceâthat Trump backs the legislation so Republicans can fundamentally sway elections in their favor.
âWhen the American people recognize the president is trying to shut down or stop the work of election officials, I think thereâs going to be an enormous outcry,â he added.
Democrats routinely claim that vote fraud in the U.S. is rare, but the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies continue to find a plethora of examples. Also, FBI Director Kash Patel said last summer the bureau under his predecessor quashed an investigation into alleged Chinese interference ahead of the 2024 election.
Patel said the plan involved the Chinese government providing fraudulent driverâs licenses to Chinese nationals in the U.S. so they could cast ballots for Biden, then Kamala Harris.
Following the 2020 election, Trump and others asserted there was widespread fraud due to the mass use of mail-in balloting without any real oversight, especially in Georgia. Democrats refuted that, but in December the Fulton County Election Board, which encompasses Atlanta, admitted that 315,000 ballots were illegally certified without the required signatures on tabulator tapes from poll workers.
Fulton County Commission Chairman Robb Pitts provided the documentation and admitted to the error. He said the county commission had ânothing to hide,â though the state elections board had tried for a year unsuccessfully to obtain the same information.
Trump lost Georgia to Biden by a margin of 11,779 votes.
