WATCH: Padilla, Schumer, Colleagues Join Voting Rights Advocates Fighting Back Against Republicans’ Anti-Voter SAVE America Act

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and several of their Senate colleagues joined leading voting rights advocates and impacted voters from across the country at the Capitol to reject President Trump and Republicans’ anti-voterSAVE America Act. The press event was hosted alongside The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and Declaration for American Democracy (DFAD) to push back against the bill’s harmful impacts, amplify the voices of affected voters, and outline actionable steps to protect against President Trump’s attempted election takeover.
Despite bipartisan opposition, the Senate voted yesterday to start debate on the bill, which threatens to disenfranchise millions of eligible Americans in an election year and requires all 50 states to hand over their unredacted voter rolls with sensitive personally identifiable information to the Trump Administration. Republicans’SAVE America Actwould eliminate most common forms of voter registration, including voter registration drives, and make voting significantly harder for as many as 69 million married women, along with seniors and rural, low-income, and minority voters. It would also disenfranchise up to 21 million citizens who can’t readily access their passports and birth certificates. If enacted, theSAVE America Actwould be effective immediately, sowing chaos in state election administration and fueling attacks against hardworking election officials by exposing them to new criminal liability.
Under pressure from President Trump, Republicans introduced a new version of the bill as a substitute amendment to make theSAVE America Acteven worse. They are now adding Trump’s wish list of damaging provisions, including to ban universal vote-by-mail and no-excuse absentee voting, severely limit access to any absentee ballots, force federal agencies like the Social Security Administration to share unreliable data with the Department of Homeland Security to compel states to purge voters, and place new limits on how voters can return absentee ballots.
Key Excerpts from Senator Padilla’s Remarks:
Video of Padilla’s remarks is available to watch onlinehereand can be downloadedhere.
“Republicans know that Americans are sick of Trump’s skyrocketing prices, rampant corruption, and costly foreign wars. But rather than working to fix their policies and improve the lives of American families, Republicans have resorted to trying to cheat to get ahead,”said Leader Schumer.“They are working to kick tens of millions of Americans off the voting rolls – with no justification, no notification, and no easy way to re-register. This is not a voter ID law. This is a radical voter suppression law. Senate Democrats will never stop fighting to protect our democracy from this despicable legislation.”
Padilla has led the charge opposing President Trump and Republicans’ reckless attempts to restrict the right to vote. Yesterday, Padillatook to the Senate floorto lead the opposition to Trump and Republicans’ anti-voterSAVE America Act. Padilla, Schumer, Representative Joe Morelle (N.Y.-25), and voting rights advocates alsoheld a press conferencerejecting Trump and Congressional Republicans’ attempted election takeover, including through theSAVE America Act. Last month, Padillatook to the Senate floorto condemn Republicans’ attempts to pass theSAVE America Act. Last May, hestoppedSenator Mike Lee’s (R-Utah) attempt to pass the anti-voterSAVE Actthrough the Senate by unanimous consent. He alsoconveneda Rules Committee Democratsspotlight forumfocused on Congressional Republicans’SAVE ActandTrump’s illegal anti-voter executive order. As President Trump marked 100 disastrous days in office, Padilla led his Democratic colleagueson the Senate floorto speak out against theSAVE Actand the Trump Administration’s attacks on election integrity. Last April, hewarnedSecretaries of State, Lieutenant Governors, and Chief Election Officials across the country of the devastating potential impacts of theSAVE Act, concerns that have beenechoed by top election officialsacross the country.
In January, Senator Padilla and Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)led 26 Senate colleaguesin pressing DOJ to stop its unlawful pressure campaign to coerce dozens of states into providing the Trump Administration their voter rolls, which include voters’ personally identifiable information. Last October, Padilla and Senator Gary Peters (D-Mich.)filedanamicus briefsupporting a lawsuit opposing the Trump Administration’s illegal ongoing attempts to purge state voter rolls across the country by developing a massive interagency database of Americans’ sensitive personal data. Additionally, Padilla and Representative Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio-03)announcedtheVoter Purge Protection Actlast year to prevent the Trump Administration’s ongoing voter purge efforts, including by prohibiting the removal of individuals from the voter rolls due to changes in residence or not voting in previous elections.
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