Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., right, have panned the SAVE America Act as "Jim Crow 2.0" and warned it would be a mechanism of widespread voter suppression. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)
Trump has time and again pushed voter ID, calling the election reforms in the bill a "CAN’T MISS FOR RE-ELECTION IN THE MIDTERMS, AND BEYOND."
Some of the bill’s strongest proponents fact-checked those claims in interviews with Fox News Digital.
"If you look at what it actually says, rather than what Democrats aggressively and, I believe, disingenuously are arguing right now — they're overlooking the requirements of the SAVE America Act — those requirements are actually really generous," Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, told Fox News Digital. "They're really flexible."
Here’s a closer look at some of the most common claims Democrats have made about the SAVE America Act — and how Republican supporters of the bill are responding.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has routinely bashed the SAVE America Act as "Jim Crow 2.0" — the segregationist laws of the Deep South largely done away with by the Civil Rights Act.
"It has nothing to do with protecting our elections and everything to do with federalizing voter suppression," Schumer said earlier in February on the Senate floor.
But Republicans argued that Democrats were being "hypocritical" in their voter suppression charge, particularly when it comes to voter ID.
TOM EMMER BLASTS DEMOCRATS' DOUBLE STANDARD ON SAVE ACT: 'THEY REQUIRE PHOTO IDS' AT THEIR OWN DNC
Senator Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah and chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, during a confirmation hearing in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Another oft-repeated argument by Democrats is that the legislation would make it harder for American women to vote — specifically married women whose last names are now different from those on their birth certificates.
That’s because the bill would require proof of citizenship, like a birth certificate or a Real ID, to register to vote.
"Republicans aren't truly afraid of noncitizens voting, which we all know is already illegal, already grounds for deportation," House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., said earlier this month. "They’re afraid of women voting."
Rep. Emilia Sykes, D-Ohio, said during the same press conference, "If your current name does not exactly fit and match the name on your birth certificate or citizenship papers, you could be blocked from registering to vote, even if you are a lifelong naturalized or American-born citizen."
But Roy again said this was untrue.
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"This is absolute nonsense, and we specifically allow for a provision to make sure that no one can possibly be left behind," he said.
"If a woman tried to register to vote with different names on her birth certificate and driver’s license," Roy said. "We literally put in the statute that all you have to do is sign an affidavit under penalty of perjury that, ‘I am that person. This is my birth certificate … and this is my driver's license that is reflecting my married name.’"
Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/republicans-shred-nonsense-dem-claims-against-trump-backed-voter-id-bill