Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., is continuing his streak of breaking with his party — this time on voter ID legislation gaining momentum in the Senate.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Democrats have near-unanimously rejected the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, election integrity legislation that made its way through the House earlier this week.
Schumer has dubbed the legislation “Jim Crow 2.0,” arguing it would suppress voters rather than encourage more secure elections.
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But Fetterman, who has repeatedly rejected his party’s messaging and positions, pushed back on Schumer’s framing of the bill.
“I would never refer to the SAVE Act as like Jim Crow 2.0 or some kind of mass conspiracy,” Fetterman told Fox News’ Kayleigh McEnany on “Saturday in America.”
“But that’s part of the debate that we were having here in the Senate right now,” he continued. “And I don’t call people names or imply that it’s something gross about the terrible history of Jim Crow.”
The bill would require voters to present photo identification before casting ballots, require proof of citizenship in person when registering to vote and mandate states remove non-citizens from voter rolls.
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Momentum is building among Republicans. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, became the 50th member of the conference to back the legislation. But Senate Democrats have all but guaranteed its demise in the upper chamber, via the filibuster.
Fetterman would not say whether he supports the bill outright. However, he noted that “84% of Americans have no problem with presenting IDs to vote.”
“So it’s not like a radical idea,” Fetterman said. “It’s not something — and there already are many states that show basic IDs. So that’s where we are in the Senate.”
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Even if Fetterman were to support the bill on the floor, it is unlikely to pass without more significant procedural changes.
There are currently not enough votes to overcome the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster threshold.
Fetterman is also not keen on eliminating the filibuster — a position shared by most Senate Republicans.
He noted that Senate Democrats once favored scrapping the filibuster but now want to preserve it while in the minority in a Republican-controlled government.
“I campaigned on it, too,” Fetterman said. “I mean we were very wrong about that to nuke the filibuster. And we should really humble ourselves and remind people that we wanted to eliminate it — and now we love it.”
Fetterman slams Democrats’ ‘Jim Crow 2.0’ voter ID rhetoric as party unity fractures 2026 IUSTITIA.BG – Investigations 2009-2025 2026-02-14 18:00:16 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law
