Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer on Monday said Democrats are not going to give in to President Trump’s demand to tie the GOP’s election legislation to funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE America Act, would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and a photo ID to cast a ballot.
Democrats say the bill’s requirement for voters to show up in person with a birth certificate or passport to register to vote is too onerous and an attempt at voter suppression.
They also argue the bill’s mandate that states turn over their voter rolls to DHS to run through an unreliable algorithm ostensibly designed to root out noncitizens would lead to millions of eligible voters having their registration revoked without their knowledge.
“It ain’t passing. It will destroy our democracy,” Mr. Schumer said Monday on MS Now. “We ain’t doing it.”
Mr. Trump has made the SAVE America Act his top legislative priority, to the point that he said Senate Republicans should not cut a deal with Democrats to end the six-week-long DHS shutdown if they do not help pass the bill.
“I don’t think we should make any deal with the Crazy, Country Destroying, Radical Left Democrats unless, and until, they Vote with Republicans to pass ’THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,’” Mr. Trump posted late Sunday on Truth Social. “It is far more important than anything else we are doing in the Senate.”
Mr. Trump on Monday doubled down on his demand to link DHS funding to the SAVE Act, urging Republicans not to “make any deal on anything” unless it includes voter ID and requiring proof of citizenship to vote.
He also said that Republicans need to stand their ground, even if it means dragging out the debate over the SAVE Act.
“You don’t have to take a fast vote. Don’t worry about Easter, going home. In fact, make this one for Jesus. OK, make this one for Jesus,” Mr. Trump said. “The most important part of homeland security is voter ID and proof of citizenship. Nobody can vote on Homeland Security without voter ID or proof of citizenship.”
The president called Democrats “terrible people” and said they are to blame for the DHS shutdown. Democrats have blocked a funding bill for the department as they demand immigration enforcement policy changes, but have said they would fund other agencies not involved in that work such as the Transportation Security Administration.
Mr. Trump said he would not agree to a DHS funding deal unless Democrats approve the SAVE America Act with additions he is pushing to restrict mail-in voting and ban transgender surgeries for minors and biological males from competing in women’s sports.
Mr. Schumer confirmed reporting from Punchbowl News that Senate Majority Leader John Thune presented Mr. Trump with a way out of the shutdown: The Senate would fund all of DHS except U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on a bipartisan basis and then Republicans would fund ICE through a party-line budget reconciliation bill.
“This shows they’re, the Republican senators, what heat they’re under because of the TSA agents, because of the long lines,” the New York Democrat said. “Finally, [Mr. Thune] goes — a little late in my judgment — but he goes to Trump and proposes it. And you know what Trump says? We’re not doing anything until we pass the SAVE Act.”
Mr. Schumer said Democrats will never agree to pass the SAVE America Act, but they are still willing to negotiate on DHS funding with measures that rein in ICE.
The White House had been trading offers with Democrats and sent their most recent counter-proposal on Friday evening.
Mr. Schumer said Democrats have a return offer ready to present.
“We are ready to meet with them and show them that we can negotiate,” he said.
Senate Democratic negotiators, including the party’s top appropriator, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, requested to meet Monday, but White House officials turned it down, according to a source familiar with the planning.
The White House did not return a request for comment. Border czar Tom Homan went to Capitol Hill twice last week to negotiate with senators in both parties.
Republicans expected to have a third meeting Saturday evening in which Democrats would respond to their latest offer, but said Democrats canceled.
The parties have found some common ground on plans to require ICE agents to wear body cameras and limit their ability to conduct enforcement in “sensitive locations,” such as schools and hospitals.
But disagreements remain on Democrats’ demands to require judicial warrants for ICE to enter private property and to force agents to stop wearing masks.
The latter is something Mr. Trump appears unwilling to support.
“I am a BIG proponent of ICE wearing masks as they search for, and are forced to deal with, hardened criminals, many of whom were let into our Country by Sleepy Joe Biden and his wonderful ’Border Czar,’ Kamala (she never even went to the Border!), through their absolutely INSANE Open Border Policy,” the president posted Monday on Truth Social.
Mr. Trump, however, did ask that ICE agents he deployed to airports to help with the TSA staffing shortage not wear masks.
The Senate is scheduled after this week in Washington to take a two-week recess for the Easter and Passover holidays, but Mr. Thune, South Dakota Republican, has warned the break may not happen if DHS is not funded.
Mr. Trump is pushing Senate Republicans to cancel the recess — and kill the filibuster if necessary — to pass the SAVE America Act.
