Senator Jon Husted Vows to Stay in Washington Until SAVE America Act Passes, Blaming Senate Democrats

Senator Jon Husted, R-Ohio, told reporters on Thursday he would remain in Washington for as long as it takes to pass the SAVE America Act. He accused Senate Democrats of blocking legislation that he claims has strong backing from President Donald Trump, congressional Republicans, and the American public.

Husted, who appeared on a recent interview program, stated he has repeatedly backed the bill and will be present whenever Senate leaders bring it up for a vote.

“I voted for it six times, and I’ll be here if we vote on it in July, August, September, October, whenever, whatever it takes, I’ll be here,” Husted said. “I haven’t missed a vote since I’ve been in the U.S. Senate.”

President Trump has urged Senate Republicans to postpone their August recess until the SAVE America Act reaches his desk.

The legislation would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register for federal elections.

Husted said he has led efforts in the Senate to add a voter photo ID requirement to the legislation, noting that every Republican senator supported his proposal while Democrats unanimously opposed it.

“I have been leading the photo ID provision of this. My photo ID provision got 53 votes from every single Republican. But we couldn’t get one Democrat to vote for it,” he said.

“The Democrats are the ones holding this up. Not a single Democrat believes in photo ID, even though their constituents certainly do,” Husted added.

Husted argued that public opinion favors Republicans on this issue and that the Senate’s 60-vote threshold means Democrats must eventually join efforts to pass the legislation.

“The American public supports this. Republicans are aligned in getting this done. The Senate, the House, the president,” he said. “But we need Democrats to come on board if we’re going to get the 60 votes we need.”

During the interview, host Ed Henry noted that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has publicly stated that Democrats do not oppose voter photo ID requirements and asked whether a stand-alone photo ID bill could attract bipartisan support.

Husted said he took Schumer at his word and introduced legislation modeled after Ohio’s voter ID law. “I put the Ohio law into federal law. We have a photo ID law that works great in our state and I said, ‘Okay, here you are, Chuck Schumer. You got a photo ID law, a clean vote,’” Husted recalled.

“And you know what? He stood up on the floor and opposed my bill,” Husted added. “We got 53 Republicans for photo ID, not a single Democrat did, even though they were saying out of one side of their mouth, yeah, we’ll be for photo ID. They didn’t ultimately do it when push came to shove.”