Josh Hawley rips 4 GOP senators who voted to block SAVE Act voter ID law
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Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., criticized four fellow Republicans who joined Democrats to block an effort to add the Protecting American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act to the Senate’s reconciliation package, saying “you can’t explain to me why you didn’t vote on voter ID.”
Thursday’s vote-a-rama included Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., voted with Democrats to reject an amendment that would have added the election integrity measure to the GOP’s budget package.
“I think it’s a disappointment,” Hawley told Fox News Digital. “Listen, we’ve been doing this in Missouri for years. I mean, the voters in my state put it in our constitution.”
FOUR SENATE REPUBLICANS AGAIN UNITE WITH DEMS TO BLOCK TRUMP’S SAVE AMERICA ACT
Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., again joined Senate Democrats to kill an effort to add the SAVE America Act to the GOP’s immigration enforcement funding plan. (Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Photo: Li Ying/Xinhua, via Getty Images; Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc, via Getty Images; Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc, via Getty Images)
““Voter ID is the most popular thing out there,” he continued. “There’s a reason for that. People want their elections to be safe and fair. In my opinion, you cannot explain why you did not vote with voter ID. I just don’t understand.”
Although Republicans debated for months the importance of including legislation to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol in the nearly $70 billion budget reconciliation package, they once again failed to pass the legislation in the Senate on Thursday night.
REPUBLICANS DID NOT ADD THE PROTECT AMERICA ACT TO THE PARTY-LINE FUNDING PACKAGE
Majority Leader John Thune, R.S.D. and Senate GOP leaders are trying to move forward on budget reconciliation to fund the last piece of the government shutdown due to Senate Democrats’ opposition to President Donald Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions. (Nathan Posner/Anatolia)
Many senators who voted to block the SAVE act argued that a bill to address voter ID laws and protect election integrity should be determined at the state level and should not have federal jurisdiction.
Hawley rejected arguments that election rules should be left solely to the states, arguing that Congress has long played a role in regulating federal elections.
“You know, we set federal rules for elections all the time,” Hawley said. “So we do that all the time. And there’s nothing more fundamental than protecting the integrity of the ballot, and that’s what this is about.”
PENCE CALLED THE SENATE TO ‘RESTORE PUBLIC CONFIDENCE’ WITH NATIONWIDE VOTER ID ACT
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., speaks to Acting U.S. Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. during a hearing of the joint Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committees at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on July 30, 2024. and questions FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Congress has enacted numerous election-related laws over the years, including the bipartisan Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022, which revises procedures for certifying presidential election results.
The SAVE Act would require applicants to provide documented proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections and require voters to present photo identification when voting in federal elections.
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“37 states already have voter ID, including several blue states,” Hawley said in response to the idea that election rules should be left up to the state. “So I think there’s this idea of ’this is weird, this is exotic, this is out there somewhere,’ no it’s not. Like most of our states do.”
“Sooner or later it will happen because I think the American people will demand it.”
