WATCH: Padilla, Schumer, Colleagues Join Voting Rights Advocates Fighting Back Against Republicans’ Anti-Voter SAVE America Act

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and several of their Senate colleagues joined leading voting rights advocates and impacted voters from across the country at the Capitol to reject President Trump and Republicans' anti-voter SAVE America Act. The press event was hosted alongside The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and Declaration for American Democracy (DFAD) to push back against the bill's harmful impacts, amplify the voices of affected voters, and outline actionable steps to protect against President Trump's attempted election takeover.

Despite bipartisan opposition, the Senate voted yesterday to start debate on the bill, which threatens to disenfranchise millions of eligible Americans in an election year and requires all 50 states to hand over their unredacted voter rolls with sensitive personally identifiable information to the Trump Administration. Republicans' SAVE America Act would eliminate most common forms of voter registration, including voter registration drives, and make voting significantly harder for as many as 69 million married women, along with seniors and rural, low-income, and minority voters. It would also disenfranchise up to 21 million citizens who can't readily access their passports and birth certificates. If enacted, the SAVE America Act would be effective immediately, sowing chaos in state election administration and fueling attacks against hardworking election officials by exposing them to new criminal liability.

Under pressure from President Trump, Republicans introduced a new version of the bill as a substitute amendment to make the SAVE America Act even worse. They are now adding Trump's wish list of damaging provisions, including to ban universal vote-by-mail and no-excuse absentee voting, severely limit access to any absentee ballots, force federal agencies like the Social Security Administration to share unreliable data with the Department of Homeland Security to compel states to purge voters, and place new limits on how voters can return absentee ballots.

Key Excerpts from Senator Padilla's Remarks:

• "Who's ready to fight for our democracy? As long as it takes, all day, all night, week in, week out, we will kill this bill. Because, make no mistake, it's not just voting rights that are on the line; our democracy is on the line - our fundamental right to vote, which is way too sacred for us to just stand by."

• "This is not a voter ID bill. It's a bait and switch bill because while they call it a voter ID bill, the language of the bill says, you know, your driver's license, that's not good enough to get you into the polling place."

• "It's taking us backwards in terms of voting rights and access to the ballot. A lot of states offer online voter registration. That would be gone. A lot of states allow for you to mail in your voter registration card. That option too - gone. Voter registration drives in communities and on college campuses - gone."

• "61 years ago … this week, President Lyndon Johnson came to the Capitol and addressed a joint session of Congress in the wake of Bloody Sunday, and pushed Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act. 61 years later, Donald Trump and this Republican majority want to take us backwards. We're not going to let that happen."

• "We should get off the SAVE Act, put it to bed, and get back to the business of the people: addressing high costs, addressing this war with Iran that American people are paying the price for. Congress did not authorize this, but we're paying the price at the pump and in so many ways. Let's get back to the real work of the American people."

Video of Padilla's remarks is available to watch online here and can be downloaded here.

"Republicans know that Americans are sick of Trump's skyrocketing prices, rampant corruption, and costly foreign wars. But rather than working to fix their policies and improve the lives of American families, Republicans have resorted to trying to cheat to get ahead," said Leader Schumer. "They are working to kick tens of millions of Americans off the voting rolls - with no justification, no notification, and no easy way to re-register. This is not a voter ID law. This is a radical voter suppression law. Senate Democrats will never stop fighting to protect our democracy from this despicable legislation."

Padilla has led the charge opposing President Trump and Republicans' reckless attempts to restrict the right to vote. Yesterday, Padilla took to the Senate floor to lead the opposition to Trump and Republicans' anti-voter SAVE America Act. Padilla, Schumer, Representative Joe Morelle (N.Y.-25), and voting rights advocates also held a press conference rejecting Trump and Congressional Republicans' attempted election takeover, including through the SAVE America Act. Last month, Padilla took to the Senate floor to condemn Republicans' attempts to pass the SAVE America Act. Last May, he stopped Senator Mike Lee's (R-Utah) attempt to pass the anti-voter SAVE Act through the Senate by unanimous consent. He also convened a Rules Committee Democrats spotlight forum focused on Congressional Republicans' SAVE Act and Trump's illegal anti-voter executive order. As President Trump marked 100 disastrous days in office, Padilla led his Democratic colleagues on the Senate floor to speak out against the SAVE Act and the Trump Administration's attacks on election integrity. Last April, he warned Secretaries of State, Lieutenant Governors, and Chief Election Officials across the country of the devastating potential impacts of the SAVE Act, concerns that have been echoed by top election officials across the country.

In January, Senator Padilla and Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) led 26 Senate colleagues in pressing DOJ to stop its unlawful pressure campaign to coerce dozens of states into providing the Trump Administration their voter rolls, which include voters' personally identifiable information. Last October, Padilla and Senator Gary Peters (D-Mich.) filed an amicus brief supporting a lawsuit opposing the Trump Administration's illegal ongoing attempts to purge state voter rolls across the country by developing a massive interagency database of Americans' sensitive personal data. Additionally, Padilla and Representative Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio-03) announced the Voter Purge Protection Act last year to prevent the Trump Administration's ongoing voter purge efforts, including by prohibiting the removal of individuals from the voter rolls due to changes in residence or not voting in previous elections.

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