Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) blasted the Republican-backed SAVE Act on the Senate floor Monday, calling it a “fringe piece of legislation” designed to make it harder for millions of Americans to cast a ballot ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Schumer berated House Republicans for focusing on what he described as a modern-day version of Jim Crow while families across the country continue to struggle with rising costs and economic uncertainty. He stated that the bill’s true purpose isn’t election security as Republicans claim, but rather it is to disenfranchise eligible voters—particularly low-income Americans and people of color.
Schumer Says Senate Democrats Will Not Vote To Pass The SAVE Act
“The SAVE Act is not a mainstream bill whatsoever,” Schumer said. “It’s a fringe piece of legislation that has now taken over the Republican Party, masquerading as election security when it’s really about laying the groundwork to meddle in the midterm elections and make it much harder for people to vote.”
Schumer warned that the bill’s voter registration requirements could disenfranchise as many as 21 million American citizens, a number he said amounts to more than 10% of the country’s voting population. Millions of eligible voters, Schumer argued, lack the specific documents the bill would require, such as passports or readily accessible birth certificates.
Schumer also stated that the legislation would effectively gut modern voter registration systems by restricting or eliminating online and mail-in registration. That, he argued, could prevent service members stationed overseas, Americans with mobility challenges, and rural voters from participating in elections.
He further compared the proposal to the kind of barriers once used during the Jim Crow era, saying the bill would move the country backward by creating unnecessary hurdles at the ballot box.
Schumer also tied the SAVE Act directly to President Donald Trump’s continued false claims about the 2020 presidential election, lambasting House Republicans for enabling those claims by pushing what he called “radical” election bills.
He made it clear that the SAVE Act will not advance in the upper chamber, declaring it “dead on arrival” in the Senate and stating that Democrats will not support legislation they believe would strip voting rights away from millions of eligible American voters.
