The White House is pushing on Congress to immediately pass the Save America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote, dubbing it one of the most vital pieces of U.S. legislation ever.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called on Congress to act on the bill during her opening remarks at Tuesday’s White House press briefing.
“President Trump is urging Congress to pass the SAVE America Act; one of the most critical pieces of legislation in our nation’s history,” she said.
The legislation has strong bipartisan support, with 71 percent of registered voters sampled in the latest Harvard-Harris poll, including 91 percent of Republicans, 50 percent of Democrats, and 69 percent of independents in favor of it.
“The SAVE America Act is overwhelmingly popular with all Americans because each provision is rooted in common sense,” Leavitt added.
She highlighted the five provisions in the bill. It requires a voter ID to vote in elections, proof of citizenship to register to vote, does away with universal mail-in ballots, codifies protections to women’s sports, and codifies bans on transgender surgeries for children.
While it prohibits universal mail-in ballots, “The SAVE America Act maintains exceptions for Americans to use mail-in ballots like for illness, disability, military, or travel reasons,” Leavitt noted.
“The bipartisan 2005 report of the Commission on Federal Election Reform, chaired by, of all people, former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker, concluded that, ‘Absentee ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud, and it is time for Congress to finally address this,’” she added.
Leavitt said enacting the SAVE America Act into law is the top action that can be taken to secure election integrity.
“Passing the SAVE America Act is the most important thing that Republicans and frankly, Democrats can do to strengthen election integrity and protect our democracy,” she said.
“It’s what the American people elected Republicans to do, and they must deliver on it as soon as possible,” Leavitt added. “The president is calling on Congress to get the job done and send this historic legislation to his desk immediately for signature.”
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