Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

John Fetterman Breaks With Democrats On Voter ID But Still Opposes SAVE Act

Sen. John Fetterman speaking (Screenshot/YouTube/John Fetterman)

Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman disclosed that he would not vote for the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act during a Friday episode of “The Conversation with Dasha Burns.”

Host Dasha Burns noted on the Politico show that Fetterman has deviated from much of his party by not opposing voter ID and explained that the SAVE Act would require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections. However, the Democrat clarified that although he did not oppose voter ID, he would not vote for the legislation.

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“I don’t support SAVE Act. I don’t. It’s in a weird time where it’s like if I say it’s not unreasonable to produce an ID — that’s not unreasonable,” Fetterman said.

“So, would you vote in favor of the SAVE Act?” Burns asked.

Fetterman avoided answering directly, instead appearing to criticize Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for describing the SAVE Act as “Jim Crow 2.0.”

“A lot of majority of Americans think it’s pretty reasonable, but that’s the point,” he added. “And why people keep talking about the SAVE is bizarre, too, because it’s not going anywhere. It’s not going anywhere.”

Burns repeated her question about whether Fetterman would vote in support of the SAVE Act.

“No. No, I won’t. But even if I loved it and I vote for it, I’ll be the only Democrat and that doesn’t matter because we won’t come anywhere close to hitting 60 [votes],” the senator said referring to the threshold to break the filibuster.

While Fetterman did not explain why he opposed the law during the Politico interview, he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that changes to mail-in voter registration were “a non-starter” for him.

The House of Representatives passed a revamped version of the SAVE Act on Wednesday, voting 216-213 to approve the SAVE America Act with just one Democratic lawmaker joining Republicans. The bill would mandate proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, enact a voter ID requirement at the ballot box and prohibit mail-only voter registrations.

Although the SAVE Act passed the House in April, it has since stalled in the Senate.

Moreover, CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten said on “CNN News Central” Feb. 3 that the vast majority of Americans support voter ID.

“What’s the racial breakdown on this? Because I think a lot of people make the argument that people of color, non-white Americans have a harder time procuring a photo ID to vote,” Enten said. “But even here, take a look here, favor photo ID to vote: 85% of white people favor it, 82% of Latino, 76% of black Americans favor it.”

“So the bottom line is this: voter ID is not controversial in this country. A photo ID to vote is not controversial in this country,” he continued. “It is not controversial by party, and it is not controversial by race.”