Trump to GOP: Do Not Pay TSA or Reform ICE Unless Dems Cave on Anti-Voter SAVE Act

WASHINGTON, DC - President Donald Trump has posted a series of social media rants urging Congressional Republicans to avoid making any deals to fund the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) unless Democrats hand him unprecedented power over U.S. elections in all fifty states.

The so-called SAVE America Act would wildly disrupt America's long-standing election system run by the individuals states. Beyond sowing turmoil, it is also a partisan attempt to suppress the votes of eligible American voters.

President Trump has already promised Congressional Republicans that passing the so-called SAVE America Act would "guarantee the midterms," despite the fact that Trump and Congressional Republicans have increased the cost of living, reduced access to affordable health care, tanked the U.S. economy, raised prices through tariff taxes, thrust America into an unauthorized war, and ran up the debt to record levels.

President Trump has also threatened to campaign against any Republican who doesn't support the so-called SAVE Act, which even some red state leaders have denounced as problematic and impossible to implement.

U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) says finding a principled solution to fund TSA and reform ICE should be an urgent, bipartisan priority. Reed said Democrats have been pushing for weeks to reach a principled and long overdue agreement to get the federal government fully working and to rein in out of control ICE and CBP agents and ensure they are subject to the same, commonsense guardrails as other law enforcement agencies.

Today, in response to President Trump's latest rants, Senator Reed stated:

"President Trump inadvertently confessed that he's responsible for denying TSA workers their paychecks and imposing long lines at airports. No matter what Democrats offer - and we've already proposed paying TSA more than 10 times that Republicans have objected to - Trump will not allow a TSA solution unless Democrats cave on his unrelated, unworkable, and unwarranted voter-suppression gambit known as the so-called SAVE America Act. Even Republican leaders, lawmakers, and election officials have warned this bill would make it more difficult for eligible American citizens to legally vote.

"How do we know this is a terrible bill? Just listen to Republican election officials who are warning the bill is disastrous. Here is what Utah's Lt. Governor - who is in charge of running elections in her state -- said about this proposed bill:

"If we want a federal law mandating voter ID or Documentary Proof of Citizenship, and it's really not about disenfranchising a bunch of voters, then states and voters need an onramp with time to prepare - get the documents, obtain the right ID, set up the system," Henderson wrote. "That's not what's happening with the SAVE America Act. This bill would be effective immediately in the middle of an election year."

"The bill," Henderson said, "would be impossible to implement, on top of all its other problems."

"Red states and blue states alike have sounded the alarm that this bill would cause chaos. It took nearly two decades of runway to fully implement the REAL ID law. But now President Trump is trying to force this radical re-jiggering of registering and voting in a matter of weeks. He's not trying to 'save America,' he is trying to save his Congressional majorities. He doesn't want oversight or accountability, he wants to change rules in the middle of election season and seize new power. So he's willing to torch America's election system that has served the country well for 250 years and replace it with one that serves himself.

"The American people deserve better. They deserve elections that are fair and honest and administered with accuracy and integrity so that the vote of every eligible U.S. citizen is counted. And that is not what the so-called SAVE Act would do - it would hand President Trump unprecedented tools to try and disregard the votes of American citizens. I hope Republicans continue using precious floor time on this issue. Because the more Americans learn about the bill, the more they understand what is actually in it - the more facts they have, the more they oppose it. And thanks to President Trump's oblivious admission, anyone stuck in a long line at the airport now knows that President Trump is the hold up. He is trying to leverage unnecessary airport delays against travelers unless Americans forfeit their rights or hand him more power. It won't work."

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Tweet