Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) stated Thursday he will remain in Washington until the Senate passes the SAVE America Act — legislation requiring U.S. citizenship for federal voting registration.
Husted said he has voted for the bill six times and will be present for any vote on it throughout July, August, September, or October, whenever necessary. “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,” Husted said.
“I haven’t missed a vote since I’ve been in the U.S. Senate,” he added.
Husted emphasized that his proposed voter photo ID requirement has gained support from all 53 Republican senators but no Democrats. “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 senator claimed Democrats have consistently opposed the measure despite public opinion supporting it and that they must join Republicans to reach the 60-vote threshold needed for passage. “The American public supports this. Republicans are aligned in getting this done. The Senate, the House, the president,” Husted stated. “But we need Democrats to come on board if we’re going to get the 60 votes we need.”
Husted noted that he modeled his legislation after Ohio’s voter ID law and accused Senator Chuck Schumer of opposing it despite earlier claims of support for photo ID requirements. “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 said. “And you know what? He stood up on the floor and opposed my bill.”
