Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is threatening to block election integrity legislation that would ensure noncitizens do not vote in American elections.
Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee’s Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act would mandate proof of citizenship during the voter registration process. Schumer threatened to filibuster the bill Wednesday evening if Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune were to bring it to the floor despite previously voting to eliminate the Senate procedural rule requiring 60 votes to advance most legislation.
“Trump and Congressional Republicans are escalating their assault on American democracy through the noxious SAVE Act,” Schumer wrote on X. “Congressional Republicans are pushing a proposal that would coerce states into instituting policies that would effectively prevent millions of American citizens from voting, stymie automatic voter registration and derail in-person voter registration drives. It is an outrage.”
“Let me be clear: Under my leadership, Senate Democrats will make sure this power grab does not pass the Senate,” Schumer continued.
Former Democratic Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama have referred to the filibuster as a “relic of the Jim Crow Era.”
Schumer notably vowed to alter the filibuster in a January 2022 letter, attacking the Senate procedural rule for allegedly preventing Democrats from passing legislation to “save” American democracy. He led 47 Senate Democrats to end the filibuster’s 60-vote requirement for “voting rights” legislation in a failed vote later that month.