Welch Speaks on SAVE America Act: “Any attempt by a president, including this president, to ‘take over’ elections is flat-out unconstitutional.”

Mar 18, 2026
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.
“TheSave America Actin 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, andonlyeligible citizens, to register to vote and vote in federal elections. That’salreadyfederal law. That isnotwhat 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 theSAVE America Act.”
Watch Senator Welch’s full remarksbelow:
In February, Senator Welch joined Senate Rules Committee Democrats for apublic forumunderscoring how President Trump’s unconstitutional threats to “take over” federal elections and Republicans’SAVE America Actendanger the voting rights of millions of Americans and jeopardize the integrity of U.S. elections. Senator Welch is a long-time supporter of theJohn R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, legislation that would update and restore critical safeguards of the originalVoting Rights Actof 1965that have been eroded in recent years by federal court rulings.
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