Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman confirmed Wednesday that he will not provide the vote needed to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act in its current form, citing specific opposition to the bill’s restrictions on mail-in voting.
Speaking on “The Takeout with Major Garrett,” the Democratic senator defended the security of mail-in ballots, noting that the practice has historical backing from both parties.
“I don’t support [it] in its current state to vote Save America,” Fetterman stated, adding that criticism of the method is “ridiculous” and pointing to successful systems in red states like Ohio and Florida. He recalled his time as Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor in 2019, noting that local Republicans were the ones who originally pushed for the mail-in option.
While Fetterman is a firm “no” on the current legislation, he signaled a willingness to compromise on narrower voter identification requirements.
Acknowledging that the vast majority of the public favors some form of ID, Fetterman said he would not stand in the way of a bill that focused strictly on basic state identification.
“If the Republicans would ever just make it showing basic state ID to vote, hey, I’m not going to tell 83% of Americans that they’re wrong or that they are Jim Crow,” he said. However, he remained skeptical of the SAVE Act’s future, predicting the bill would ultimately collapse under the weight of the Senate filibuster.
The legislation, which requires proof of citizenship via in-person documentation for voter registration, recently cleared the House in a narrow 218-213 vote. Texas Representative Henry Cuellar was the lone Democrat to join Republicans in supporting the measure.
Despite the House victory and public pressure from President Donald Trump for the Senate to move forward, Republican leadership is facing internal hurdles.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune admitted Wednesday that he lacks the necessary consensus to employ a “talking filibuster”—a tactic intended to exhaust the opposition through continuous debate—to force the bill through.
The path forward for the SAVE Act is further complicated by a divide within the Republican caucus itself. Several high-profile GOP senators, including Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, and John Kennedy of Louisiana, have voiced their opposition to using the talking filibuster strategy.
Without a unified front to bypass procedural roadblocks or the support of Democrats like Fetterman for the bill’s broader registration requirements, the legislation faces a stalled path in the upper chamber.
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