Warnock Works to Save America from the Save America Act

Senator Reverend Warnock is raising alarm bells about the harms of voter suppression legislation, inappropriately named the "Save America Act"

The Senator is taking to the airwaves, the Senate floor, social media platforms, and to the people directly about the consequences of this legislation, which may disenfranchise thousands or millions of voters

Senator Reverend Warnock: "Republicans here in Washington just launched a desperate last ditch effort to stop you from voting. In fact, they have shut down most of the business of the Senate just so they can pass their voter suppression bill."

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) is using every tool available to sound the alarm about Washington Republicans' so-called SAVE America Act, legislation that would disenfranchise millions of Georgians and remove their ability to vote in federal elections. If signed into law, the Republican legislation could result in millions of Americans losing their ability to vote due to burdensome verification requirements. Under the SAVE America Act, voters would need to provide proof of citizenship beyond most drivers licenses - such as a passport or birth certificate - when registering to vote, including when updating their voter registration, and provide photo identification on Election Day or to vote by mail. Student identification cards would no longer be considered an acceptable form of identification under the proposed law.

The Senator has worked to reach voters everywhere: rallying supporters steps away from the Capitol, hitting the airwaves, the Senate floor, and flooding the zone across social media channels. Below are videos and transcripts of a few of the Senator's latest efforts to defeat the Save America Act.

SOCIAL MEDIA: Senator Warnock is making the case across his social media channels. Already amassing over 330,000 views across Instagram, Facebook, and X. Find the transcript below:

It's not a drill.

Republicans here in Washington just launched a desperate last ditch effort to stop you from voting. In fact, they have shut down most of the business of the Senate just so they can pass their voter suppression bill.

The question is, why are they doing this? And sadly, the answer is very simple.

They have spent the last year and a half cutting health care, raising the cost on virtually everything through their tariff tax, unleashing wanton violence on our streets under the color of law. They know that they have broken their promise to the American people, and they know that Americans can see through Trump's lies, things have gotten worse for ordinary working families, and instead of changing their policies, they're trying to change the outcome of the election.

I often say that a vote is a kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and for our children. There is something sacred about your vote, because your vote is your voice, and your voice is your human dignity.

So know this, no matter what tricks they try, no matter what stunts they pull, no matter how long it takes, I will be right here fighting for your voice.

SENATE FLOOR: Senator Warnock took to the Senate floor, with clips of the speech going viral across platforms, including Instagram. Watch the full speech HERE.

Mr. President, I'm so grateful for the remarks of my colleague and friend from the great state of Massachusetts, and for her voice on this very important issue.

I rise today as a child of the Civil Rights movement. As the blessed beneficiary of its bold, moral witness in America. And as a member of only the second generation of our nation to have full and fair access to the right to vote. Some have argued that in a real sense, our country did not really become a democracy until 1965. There were those who stood up with courage and challenged the nation to live up to its ideals.

I stand here today, and I'm able to work in this building on behalf of the people of Georgia. What an honor to represent 11 million people. To carry on this grand experiment called democracy. But it's never far from my memory that at the time of my birth, Georgia's two senators were Richard B. Russell and Herman E. Talmich. In many ways, they were effective. They brought great things back to the state of Georgia. But we would not be honest, we would not be telling the full story if we did not remember that they were both arch segregationists and unabashed adversaries of the Civil Rights movement, which sought to expand the electorate. To ensure that this is a house where every American citizen has a voice. Senator Talmadge once said, "We love the Negro in his place, and his place is at the back door." Well, it is a testament to the greatness of this country that I sit in his seat because there were those who stood up to fight for the highest ideals of our country.

I reference that history because it is relevant in this moment. Nearly 62 years ago to the day, those two Georgia senators, along with other southern senators, began a week-long effort to prevent people who look like me and my parents and my children from fully parenting in our democracy. They were trying to narrow the electorate. And so, I find it interesting and ironic that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, who have been leading this effort, in recent days, to reference this very history, which is the cause for my being here in the first place. One of them pointed out the fact that when we enter the debate about the Civil Rights legislation and try to push it into law, that there were those who stood up day after day, week after week, and he dared to enlist that history as if somehow that was some inspiration for what they are trying to do in this moment. Let me be very clear. You are on the other side of that history. You're on the side of those who are trying to narrow the electorate. And so if you want to pass the SAVE Act, that is your prerogative. If you want to argue that folks have to have a birth certificate or a passport just to be able to register to vote in a country where most Americans do not have a passport. If you want to effectively disenfranchise women, disenfranchise poor people, working-class people, who have to struggle for the right to vote, that is your prerogative. Be very clear, you are not on the side of the movement, you are on the other side of that history. Fight with us if you will, but you ought to live the Civil Rights movement and Martin Luther King Jr.'s name out of your mouth.

This country goes through moments where the electorate expands and when it contracts, and we are in a contraction moment. We're in a moment where, in the words of the administration itself, it was a cabinet official in the white house herself who said, " We just want to make sure that, quote, the right people are voting." The right people. The right people are voting. That was the argument in the 1960's. And had those who wanted to make sure that the, quote, the right people were voting, had they prevailed, I would not be standing here today. I don't believe in the right people; I believe in we the people. We the people. We the people. That is not just the first three words of our charter document, it is a creed - we the people. Every American citizen must have access to the franchise, and it must not be treated as a privilege; it is a right. And when you put up unnecessary barriers, you undermine that basic understanding that the franchise is not a privilege, it's a right.

I often say that a vote is a kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and for our children, and our prayers are stronger when we pray together. There is no right or wrong people. There's only the American people. And they put up the SAVE Act, arguing that they want to make sure that it's only Americans who are voting, but they have demonstrated, they have provided no evidence that voter fraud is a real thing through voter identification. We know that this will disenfranchise thousands, if not millions of Americans. We have no evidence that this is a problem that actually needs to be solved, and yet they have shut down much of the business of the Senate in order to do this; they are hell-bent on getting this done.

Donald Trump said that this was his number one priority, and so it begs the question, why is this his number one priority? With all the things going on in our country, why is this the main thing that he feels he must get done? Why is he afraid? I'll tell you why. It's because he knows that he has broken every promise he has made. He said that he was going to lower your costs. Instead, he's doubled health care premiums for 22 million Americans. This has cost the average American family over $1,000 a year. Gas prices are spiking and show no sign of coming down any time soon, but this is his number one priority. He said he was going to be the president of peace, but he has attacked [seven] countries and counting. Yet again, we find ourselves entangled in another endless war with no endgame and no idea what victory looks like, all the while we have important problems right here at home.

Donald Trump promised to support our farmers, and instead, he's raised the cost of fertilizer and hamstrung their exports. And farmers all across Georgia are suffering as a result. And so that's really what this is all about. Donald Trump is a failed president, and his support is collapsing. I hear it all across Georgia in rural towns bearing the brunt of the president's immigration policies and farmers dealing with the realities of a trade war. This president claims to be America first, but in the name of protecting United States Citizens his deportation machine has seized over 170 citizens. They've shot and killed two American citizens on a quiet street. I went to stand where they lost their lives, and in a real sense, I felt like I was standing on holy ground. Ground made sacred by the blood of patriots who stood up against abusive authority under the color of law, to remind us that at the end of the day, this is our country.

We the people? We the people. We the people. Not the lobbyist. We the people. Not the American oligarchs, we the people. Now they want to prevent even more citizens from voting, from making our voices heard. They want to block our ability to stand up in November and say, "Enough is enough." And so, the president is panicking. He's doing what he always does. He's attacking our elections so that you cannot fire his foot soldiers in Congress. It is pathetic. He looks to me like a scared human being who knows that behind the curtain is a tiny man. We will not be intimidated. Our voices will not be silenced.

The president continues to push the lies that he spread after he lost in 2020 to create the pretext to interfere in the midterm elections, which is why we saw an FBI raid in Fulton County, Georgia. And as I watched that FBI raid, I saw the director of National Intelligence crouched in a corner talking on a mobile phone, and I wondered why she was there. There were bomb threats in polling stations in poor and black neighborhoods during the 2024 election, which was later traced back to Russian interference. I'm still waiting for an answer from her on that. There she was engaged in this effort to count the ballots again in the 2020 election, even after the president's own justice department found no evidence of meaningful voter fraud. These claims about voter fraud, that's the fraud. That's the fraud. And I think Americans are growing tired of it.

You know the wonderful thing about our country, Mr. President, is that we get to have the argument. You and I don't agree on a whole range of things, but I just want us to be able to have the argument. It gets rambunctious in the American public square to avoid violence, but at the end of the day, everybody gets to go to the polls, and the most powerful words of democracy are that the people have spoken. And so, I will always cast my lot on the side of democracy. I'm hopeless in this regard. I believe in the people. I want to make sure my constituents' voices are heard, even when they don't agree with me, even when I don't get the outcome that I want. When I think about the nature of human power and human pride, and forgive me, but I'm a preacher, after all, human sin. Our desire to make sure that we slant things so that we get the outcome we want. We see it not just in governments; you see it in your own family. The question becomes, how do you avail us all of those things? I think democracy is the best we've got. Given who we are as human beings, I will cast my lot with the people's voice, even when I think they have gotten it wrong; I would rather put my trust there. Rheinold Niebuhr put it best. He said that humankind's capacity for justice makes democracy possible. Our capacity for injustice makes democracy necessary. At the end of the day, the thing that can fix it, whatever issue we have, I believe, is the people's voice.

And so, I'm disturbed about what I'm witnessing. I'm disturbed about an attack on Fulton County and in Maricopa County, Arizona. It troubles me when ICE lands in Minneapolis, and then the administration says that we are there to deal with violent criminals, we're there to deal with this immigration issue, but then when it comes down to it, the administration says, "Do you really want ICE out of your community? Hand over your voter rolls. Come on, man. I don't care whether you're a Democrat or a Republican. Come on. You can see what this is about. What do voter rolls have to do with violent criminals? What kind of ransom note is that to send to the leaders of the people of Minneapolis? And so, the big lie continues to live, and we need to kill it once and for all, and the only thing that can do that is the people's voice.

The president continues to spread conspiracy theories and outright lies. Here is the reality: this bill will disenfranchise thousands, if not millions, of Americans, and that is why they want to pass it so desperately. They are using onerous citizenship verification as a pretext for voter suppression, requiring you to use a birth certificate or a passport to register to vote. Under this bill, a driver's license wouldn't be enough to register to vote. They ought to call the bill what it is. They ought to call it the " driver's license is not good enough act." They call it the SAVE Act, but the question is, what are they trying to save? They are not trying to save our elections. They're trying to save their own power at any cost. At the cost of the voices of ordinary people.

Let's think about this in practical terms. If you change addresses, even if you move down the street, and you've been voting for years, do you want to have to track down your birth certificate, which you lost while you were moving, in order to register to vote? You get married, and you change your name, you've got to go find your marriage license and a birth certificate or a passport to prove that you are a citizen? More than half of Georgians, or 5.4 million people, lack a valid passport, and as many as 2.2 million women in Georgia may not have their birth certificate that matches their current legal name. And so, women are disproportionately disenfranchised by this piece of legislation, which again is a solution in search of a problem that does not exist.

Let me be really clear, noncitizens should never vote in our elections. There's no argument about that. But this legislation will only make it harder for eligible American voters to make their voices heard. That is the actual work that this legislation will do. We know that about 760,000 voting-age Georgians who are United States citizens would have difficulty showing documentation proving their citizenship. We know that. By the way, we have voter ID in Georgia, and I will tell you, for the record, that I think you should have to prove that you are who you say you are before you vote. I support voter ID. We have voter ID laws in my state. You should have to prove that you are who you say you are before you vote. That's basic, but that is not what this is about. This is about onerous voter ID requirements used as a pretext and as a tool for voter suppression, because there are those in the administration who want to make sure "the right people vote."

There are currently strong laws on the books that keep noncitizens from voting. They face criminal prosecution and deportation if they vote. So, let's just think about the risk-reward and cost/benefit analyses. You will be criminally prosecuted if you try to vote and you are not a citizen. And you're trying to tell me that folks will risk criminal prosecution in droves to change the potential outcome of an election? Are you trying to tell me that folks will try to vote twice? It's hard enough to get folks to vote once, let alone twice. That's probably why Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger found only 20 instances of noncitizens registered, out of 8.2 million in Georgia. 8.2 million people registered to vote in Georgia. The Republican Secretary of State found 20 instances of noncitizens who were registered; only 9 had ever attempted to vote, and the majority did so before 2012. This is a solution in search of a problem that does not exist. So, this means that the "Save America Act " would burden or disenfranchise over 150,000 Georgians for every single instance of a noncitizen voting in the last decade. Does that make sense? You keep one noncitizen from voting; you disenfranchise 150,000 for every one? You're trying to tell me that that makes the democracy stronger? More representative of our interests? So, if there's no meaningful voter fraud, and if this law is so disastrous for voting citizens, the question is, why is the president so desperate to sign the SAVE America Act into law? And I mean, he's desperate. So desperate that he's threatened his own Republican caucus. Said if y'all don't do this, we're not going to do anything.

The president is trying to take away your right to vote so he can hold on to power. The Washington Republicans are trying to help him do it. They're using the SAVE America Act as a pretext for voter suppression. They know their policies are deeply unpopular with the American people, but instead of working to change their policies, instead of working to get more people access to the health care that they need, they're taking health care away from 15 million Americans. Instead of working to lower the cost of groceries, they're imposing reckless tariff taxes that make everything more expensive. Instead of actually working on behalf of the American people, they're working to change who can vote in the next election. So, we're going to stand up. I'm certainly going to stand up for all of my constituents. And I mean that.

I want the Georgians who are in red districts to know that I'm fighting for you and your voice, because this administration's so-called SAVE America Act will disenfranchise many of my constituents in red districts. And that is because increasingly, the people's voices are being squeezed out of their democracy. It is the folks with a lot of money; it is the corporate interests that they want to hear from. And you are living right now with the consequences of your voice being diminished. I see it. I see it in rural red counties that I visit all the time, where their rural hospital is either closed or is almost closing. Because they cut a trillion dollars out of Medicaid. I see it in the eyes of farmers burdened by these tariffs, and in the damage they're inflicting on their businesses.

I saw it the other day in Social Circle, Georgia. Where the administration is determined to put a 10,000-bed ICE detention center in a town of 5,000 people. 5,000 people in Social Circle, Georgia. The administration went in, bought a warehouse for $128 million, and the mayor, the city manager, and the leadership of Social Circle, Georgia, learned that there would be a detention center in their town that would triple its size after reading about it in The Washington Post. So, think about that. The mayor, elected to represent his people, the big, bad federal government comes in under the cover of night and ambushes the duly elected local officials because they didn't want to hear their voice. They were determined to bring this warehouse to their town, whether they liked it or not. So, I'm fighting for those people, even though, it's by large, a red district. I don't have a lot of votes in Social Circle, Georgia, but I'm a pastor first, and I told the people of Georgia that I would walk with them even as I work for them.

And so, this is about the voices of ordinary people. This is about saving our democracy. As I close, and nobody believes a Baptist preacher when he says, as I close, but I'm not trying to break any records today. Andrew Young tells me the story that when they passed the Civil Rights Act into law, Dr. King and his group went to see President Johnson. They were feeling good, and they should. They passed the Civil Rights Act into law after the long filibuster that I talked about at the beginning of this speech. They passed the Civil Rights Act into law, and Dr. King and his lieutenants went to see the president. And Dr. King said, "I'm glad we got that civil rights bill into law," and without skipping a beat, he said, "Now we need a voting rights law." He wasn't going to let the president bask too long in that victory. He said, that's great, but my people can't vote in the south. I need a voting rights law, and I need it yesterday. The president said to Martin Luther King Jr., " You're right, I get it, but I just can't get it done right now. "They left the meeting, and the staff was feeling dejected. The staff said, "What are we going to do? The president said he doesn't have the power." Dr. King just sort of shrugged his shoulders and said, well, if the president doesn't have the power, I guess we're going to have to go and find him some.

Think about that. He's just a Baptist preacher. Wasn't elected to anything. He was not a United States senator, certainly not the President of the United States, but he said, we're going to go and find the president some power. Dr. King understood, and those who were around him understood that it's not about the people in power. It's about the power that's in the people. So, the people are standing up in this moment, and I'm standing with them.

No to the so-called "SAVE Act". Yes, to saving our democracy. I yield the floor.

RALLYING SUPPORTERS: Senator Warnock spoke to dozens of passionate activists outside the Capitol standing alongside Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Democracy Defenders. Watch HERE.

SRW: Are you ready to defeat the SAVE Act!?

So, listen, this is very simple. This is not complicated stuff. This is no math test. I can boil it down to one sentence: Donald Trump knows that he is losing. That's what this is about, he's losing. The American people have had it with him and with his policies. He ran as somebody who was going to lower costs, who was going to stay out of endless wars in the Middle East, and he is failing. But instead of changing his policies, he's trying to change the shape of the electorate.

And this, this really is not a partisan issue. Voting rights are basic. Whatever other issue you're trying to fight for, the democracy is the house that we live in. It is the context in which we get to fight the good fight. So, whatever we do, we always have to stand up for the democracy.

And so, as I often say, a vote is a kind of prayer, for the world we desire for ourselves and for our children, and our prayers are stronger when we pray together. But these days, I'm praying harder. I'm praying not only with my lips, but with my legs. We have to pray with our hands and with our feet. We have to show up and fight for the world that we want to see.

I'm very worried about America, to be honest. I'm very worried because the SAVE Act is just one more iteration of the chipping away of the people's voice. That's what I mean when I say this is bigger than partisan politics. I need my friends who don't agree with me on most things to see what's really happening here. Little by little, the voices of the people, regardless of your politics, the voices of the people are getting softer and softer. And the voices of money, people with big money, people who can write big checks, those are getting louder and louder. They are literally squeezing the voices of the people out of their own democracy. And one flashpoint of that was Citizens United, when they said, "A corporation is a person," and we've seen that voice get louder and louder and louder.

Have you ever wondered why it's hard for us to get stuff done? Think about how divided our country is, and it is, there are divides, there are cultural wars, all of that's true, but even on the stuff we agree with, even in the areas where there is broad agreement among Americans, we can't get any movement in that building. So, what does that tell you? That tells you that somebody else, other than the people, increasingly own the democracy. Like, we don't agree on the gun issue. There are differences, but most Americans believe in background checks. Why can't we get a vote on it? Why is there no real discussion about it? And so, I need folks to see the SAVE Act for what it is. This is about us moving from a democracy, increasingly, to an oligarchy. This is about big people with big interests, with big money, determining the agenda. And so, we have to defeat the SAVE Act, because they're not trying to save America. They're trying to save their own power at any cost. But we're not having it. I'll stand up all night if I have to stand up in that building to defeat the SAVE Act.

So, let's stay in this fight, and whatever you do, don't give in to those who are trying to weaponize despair, who are trying to convince you that they have already won, because if they can convince you of that, then you stop fighting. But when we fight, we win.

When we fight?!

People: We Win!

SRW: When we fight?!

People: We win!

SRW: And so don't give in to the forces who are trying to weaponize despair, because we've seen tough, tough times before. I'm here with the Reverend Dr. Spencer from Georgia, and in so many ways, the people of our state have been standing up. But you know, I was John Lewis's pastor, and so I'm not about to give up in the face of Donald Trump. We've seen his kind before. We've seen these kinds of fights before.

And so, as I close, and nobody believes the Baptist preacher when he says, as I close. When Martin Luther King Jr. enjoyed the victory of having passed the Civil Rights Act into law, he went to see President Johnson in the White House. Andy Young told me this story, and he and his lieutenants went to see the President, and the President was feeling all wonderful, you know, congratulating themselves that they passed the Civil Rights bill into law. Big deal, it was a huge deal that they got it done, and Dr. King recognized that, but he said, "Thank you very much, Mr. President. I need a voting rights bill." I mean, he didn't skip a beat. He said," Yep, we got public accommodations, but I'm not a citizen if I don't have the right to vote. I need a voting rights law, and I need it now!"

And the President of the United States pushed back. In principle, he said, "I hear your point, but you've got to understand how politics works, Dr. King. I can't get that done right now. I just passed the Civil Rights bill into law. I had to get that through the forces in the south, the Dixiecrats, who didn't want to see that. I was just able to get that done. I don't have the power. I don't have the power to do it right now." And they left the meeting, and the staff was feeling all demoralized and dejected, and they said to Dr. King, "What are we going to do?" The President of the United States just said to us that he doesn't have the power to get us our voting rights. Dr. King just sort of shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well, if the President doesn't have the power, I guess we're going to have to go and find him some."

I like that story! Because he was a man who wasn't elected to anything. He wasn't a United States Senator. He was just a Baptist preacher on Auburn Avenue in Atlanta, Georgia, and he said, I'm going to go and get the President of the United States some power. It is a way of saying that it's not about the people in power. It's about the power that's in the people!

I'm trying to tell you that you have more power than you think you have. And if you stand up today, and stand up tomorrow, and stand up next week, and stand up all the way to November, we're going to put some guardrails on this president! We're going to shut down this agenda that's creating terror on the streets all across our cities, with masked men jumping out of unmarked cars, pulling people, and creating terror. We can put guardrails on this President. We keep this momentum and this courage all the way to November and then beyond. Are you ready to stand up? Are you ready to save America from the SAVE Act? Well, let's stand up, and when we stand up, we win.

God bless all of you. Keep the faith.

CABLE TV: Senator Warnock spoke to Chris Hayes about the dangers of the SAVE America Act, reaching MSNOW's primetime audience. Watch HERE.

SRW: Look, I take Donald Trump at his word in this case, at least. He is a failed president. He was hired by the American people because he said he would lower their costs. Instead, he has doubled the health care premiums for some 22 million Americans because of his tariffs, which is a tax on everything. Groceries are up. Everything you have to buy is up. He said that he would be the president of peace. He's attacked seven countries more than any modern American president, and now we're in an unpopular war. And as a result of that, gas prices are up, and the people can see it. They can see through his lies, he knows he's going to lose. He's behaving like a man who knows he's losing. And the sad thing is that there are those in Congress who are enabling this effort through the so-called SAVE Act. They're not trying to save America. They're trying to save their power at the expense of the voices of American citizens. And I won't stand for it. I'll do everything I have to do. I'll stay up all night. I've got to go back to the Congress tonight to save America from the SAVE Act, which we intend to do,

Chris Hayes: There's a bunch of provisions in there that are incredibly onerous. Right? People have to appear in person to register, for example, which obviously, for a lot of people, would be difficult, whether transportation or disability, a very restrictive set of identification. Married women who may have to present a passport, older folks who don't have their birth certificate who would have to track it down. But there's all of that. There's also just like this, to me, this really ugly part, which is basically federalizing DHS control and access to state voter rolls for whoever Trump's person is to do kind of with what they want. Is that a fair understanding?

SRW: Well, absolutely. And I want people to be clear who are watching this, this is not a voter ID bill. You know? I think that you should have to demonstrate that you are who you say you are in a reasonable way before you vote, but this bill initially wasn't even about voter ID. This is about purging people from the rolls. This is about what you just laid out, the big bad federal government literally controlling the voter rolls of states. He's using voter ID and so called fraud, and the evidence doesn't bear that out at all. He's using that as a pretext to play around with the midterm elections. He already knows he's going to lose, and so he's trying to set up for his response even now, we have to take this seriously. This is a five alarm fire on our democracy. And look, this ought not even be a partisan issue, this idea that the federal government will come in and nationalize elections. We're all my small government Republicans? Where are my small government conservatives who should be standing up in this moment and saying, clearly, the administration of the elections is a state issue. This is a huge power grab by oligarchs who are busy moving well from the bottom to the top. They know that their policies are hurting working families badly, and now they want to rob those families and those people of the ability to use their voice as American citizens to rebuke them, to hold power accountable.

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