Commentary: Big Tent Ideas

DAVE BOSSIE: Senate Republicans Must Stand Tall And Pass SAVE America Act

Gage Skidmore/Creative Commons/Flickr

It’s welcome news that the U.S. House of Representatives has passed one of President Donald Trump’s top legislative priorities, Republican Texas Rep. Chip Roy’s SAVE America Act.

This commonsense legislation makes long overdue reforms to our broken election system that enjoy historic levels of support from Americans of both political parties and all backgrounds.

It’s now time for the Republican majority in the U.S. Senate to get the bill across the finish line.  For tens of millions of patriotic citizens, this would be “The Grandaddy” on the president’s promises kept list. Trump is saving America and restoring trust in government through election integrity.

Even in these divisive times, more than 80 percent of the American people support the bill’s two main components, which would simply require providing proof of citizenship to register to vote and showing an identification at the polling place to cast a vote.  Unbelievably, only one Democrat in the U.S. House listened to their constituents by voting in favor of the measure.  This seminal vote will be long remembered because it speaks volumes about the busted state of affairs in today’s Democratic Party.

Indeed, a whopping 71 percent of Democrats across the country support Voter ID, which makes it all the more insane that 213 Trump-hating House Democrats decided to vote in the negative.  It’s become obvious — and deeply troubling — that the deep pocketed benefactors on the far left who forced essentially the entire Democrat conference in the House to snub their constituents on this all-important issue are not acting in the best interests of the country.

Even though we may not agree on much these days, the overwhelming polling on election integrity makes it clear that vast majorities understand that only American citizens should participate in American elections and that showing an ID to vote is a no-brainer.  Case in point, survey data found that 82 percent of Latinos and 76 percent of African Americans support straightforward Voter ID measures.

House Speaker Mike Johnson deserves great credit for driving Trump’s America first agenda through Congress despite his razor thin majority.  Make no mistake about it, Johnson’s success has a lot to do with the fact that it’s a lot easier to ask members to vote for measures that are popular with the American people, as opposed to forcing them to walk the plank on unpopular positions like Democrat leadership directs their membership to do so often.

Now the legislation moves to the U.S. Senate where Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee is spearheading the crucial effort.  If these were normal times, something as simple as the SAVE America Act would garner near unanimous support in the Senate, but these are far from normal times.  We’re witnessing a situation where the party out of power hates the duly elected president of the United States more than they love their country.  It’s not hyperbole to say that all but a couple Democrat legislators on Capitol Hill suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome, the condition that forces politicians on the left to oppose whatever issue Trump is supporting regardless of its popularity.

For example, so far the SAVE America Act has been co-sponsored by over 90 percent of the Republican caucus in the Senate, but only one Democrat – Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman — has had the courage to say publicly that Americans believe Voter ID policies are reasonable.

Sadly, Republican Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski decided against being a “yes” on the legislation and instead stands with unhinged Senate Democrats.  Thankfully, there’s still time for Murkowski to come to her senses by listening to the wide swaths of voters who want President Trump to sign this bill into law without delay.

That said, unless the Republican leadership addresses Democrat filibuster abuse by enforcing standing rules that require Senators to stand up and speak in order to stall legislation, the SAVE America Act will die in the upper chamber.  This horrible outcome would not sit well with many — Republicans in particular — for a very long time.  It shouldn’t come as a surprise by now that there’s far more intensity surrounding the issue of election integrity than other public policy issues.  Republicans campaigned on securing our elections in 2024 and voters expect Majority Leader John Thune and his team to deliver, even if it means redoubling efforts, working longer hours, and implementing existing Senate rules.  A minority party comprised of left-wing lunatics should not get to dictate the future of America.

It was typical swamp behavior watching the Washington establishment’s excuse factory kick into action as soon as the SAVE America Act passed the House. Unfortunately, for the folks in the Senate who want to stick with the failed status quo of Wild West elections where no one believes the outcome, those tactics are beyond antiquated and will no longer be tolerated by “We the People.” When even CNN says, “voter ID is not controversial in this country,” it’s time for Senate Republicans to stand tall for their constituents and get the job done once and for all.

David Bossie is the president of Citizens United and served as a senior adviser to the Trump-Pence 2020 campaign. In 2016, Bossie served as deputy campaign manager for Donald J. Trump for President and deputy executive director for the Trump-Pence Transition Team.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

(Featured Image Media Credit: Gage Skidmore/Creative Commons/Flickr)