VIDEO: Rosen: I Urge My Colleagues to Reject SAVE America Act, Focus on Lowering Everyday Costs

Watch the full speech HERE

Washington DC - Today, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) took to the Senate Floor to speak out against the SAVE America Act and call out Senate Republicans for prioritizing voter suppression over lowering costs for Americans. This is at a time when gas prices are rising dramatically across the country and millions of Americans are struggling to put food on the table due to rising grocery prices. The SAVE America Act would impose strict restrictions on voting and voter registration, which could end up barring millions of women whose names do not match their birth certificate and hard-working Americans who cannot afford to obtain a passport, among many others.

Senator Rosen has been determined to lower prices and make daily life more affordable for Nevadans and people across the U.S. She recently pushed Trump to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, attempting to lower gas prices affected by Trump's war in Iran. Senator Rosen introduced legislation that would protect groceries from Trump's tariffs, requiring Congressional approval on any tariffs levied on food. Senator Rosen also strongly condemned the Trump Administration's proposed funding cuts to critical programs Americans rely on to pay for health care and essentials, such as Medicare and Social Security.

Below is a transcript of Senator Rosen's Remarks

Mr. President,

I rise today to express my strong opposition to the SAVE America Act.

Let me be clear right off the bat, I believe in protecting the integrity of our elections. I believe our elections should be, and are, safe and secure. And I believe we must always make sure there's no meddling in our elections.

Every eligible American deserves to have their voice heard at the ballot box, and they deserve to have confidence in our democratic system.

This is not a Democratic or Republican value - free and fair elections are the foundation of the United States of America.

And protecting these free and fair elections should be something every elected official should support.

But that's not what this bill is really about.

The hyper-partisan, so-called SAVE America Act isn't about making our elections safer. It's not even about keeping our elections free and fair.

It's quite the opposite! This bill is about making it harder for eligible Americans to vote and shrinking the size of our electorate to benefit Republicans.

This bill would impose strict restrictions on Americans' ability to vote. Restrictions so severe that a woman who gets married and changes her last name could be barred from voting because her last name doesn't match her birth certificate. Think about that. You take your husband's name, now you can't vote because your current last name doesn't match your birth certificate.

You see, Donald Trump and Washington Republicans, they are so afraid of being held accountable for their actions, and their jobs and what they're doing, that they're trying anything that they can possibly do to prevent people from voting in order to increase their odds in this year's midterm elections.

They know their actions to raise gas prices, cut your health care, and increase costs through illegal tariffs as groceries go up, rent is up, utilities are up - they are not popular with the American people.

That's why Trump first tried to rig Congressional maps in red states like Texas and Missouri, to give Republicans an advantage.

And when that didn't work, Washington Republicans decided to push a hyper-partisan bill.

That's right. Instead of working to improve your lives, the lives of Americans, by lowering costs at the kitchen table, by expanding access to health care, and face the voters on the merits of their work, they would rather restrict the electorate. In other words, they just want to stop people from voting.

At a time when families are struggling to make ends meet…when people are being squeezed by rising prices at the grocery store, now at the gas pump going higher and higher every day, and ,well, at the doctor's office, if you still have insurance. Washington Republicans have chosen to focus all of their efforts on preventing citizens from voting.

Washington Republicans are not lowering your costs…they are not helping working families get ahead…instead, they are making it harder for Americans to exercise their constitutional right to vote.

So, let's not kid ourselves here. Washington Republicans are using this totally unnecessary, and harmful bill as a distraction.

A distraction from the fact that families are struggling to keep up with rising costs.

A distraction from the fact that gas prices are going up every single day.

A distraction that groceries are more expensive - and they're going up every single day.

A distraction from the fact that too many Americans are worried about how they're going to afford their health care and their medication, and the tough choices they may have to make in order to make ends meet.

Those are the things that keep people up at night and what the Senate should be focused on.

Trump and Washington Republicans have done nothing to lower the price of groceries or gas, and nothing to make health care more affordable. Washington Republicans simply do not care about your monthly bills going up and up.

Instead, we're here debating a bill that does absolutely nothing to make life more affordable for anyone.

So what should we be doing? We should be working together to protect against real threats to our elections - like foreign interference, voter intimidation, and making sure every legal vote is counted. Not creating new obstacles for Americans who are simply trying to exercise their constitutional right to vote.

We should be working together to address the real threats, and the real challenges that American families are facing today. Taking care of your family, kids going to school, rent, groceries, utilities, opportunity.

We should be working together to address the financial pressure families are under. To come up with good solutions, good policies that will actually make a difference in people's lives and at the kitchen table. That's what we've been elected to do.

And so we owe it to the voters to do that, and we also owe it to the voters to protect their right to vote in future elections.

To be clear, I will not support policies that make it harder for eligible Americans to vote.

I urge my colleagues to reject the SAVE America Act and get back to focusing on what actually matters to the American people, lowering everyday costs and making life more affordable, and a good future more attainable.

Thank you, M. President.

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