Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said Wednesday he will not vote for the SAVE America Act, President Trump’s top legislative priority, despite acknowledging that more than 80 percent of Americans support requiring photo identification to register and vote.
“I can’t ever vote for that,” Fetterman told CBS News anchor Major Garrett on “The Takeout” Wednesday night. “Because I could never agree [with] something that’s just not true.”
“Hey, I’m not going to tell 83% of Americans that they’re wrong, or that they’re Jim Crow,” Fetterman said. He went further, blasting fellow Democrats who have described the SAVE America Act as “Jim Crow 2.0.”
Fetterman said his opposition to the bill as written centers on its mail-in voting provisions and the sections protecting minors from gender procedures. On the transgender issue, he said the matter should be left to parents and states. “That entire community, I refuse to target or pick on that. It’s difficult enough for transgender kids,” he stated. “I think it’s a very personal choice for parents and their children.”
Fetterman’s opposition puts him in line with his party, a notable shift for a senator who has broken with Democrats on several high-profile votes since taking office in January 2023. His resistance came despite an admission that landed awkwardly: he said the “vast majority” of Americans back strict voter ID requirements and he acknowledged polling that puts public support for the measure at 83 percent.
The SAVE America Act would require documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration, mandate photo ID at the ballot box, restrict mail-in voting, prohibit men from competing in women’s sports, and ban sex-change procedures on minors. Trump has called the legislation “the most popular bill put before Congress” and has vowed not to sign other legislation until it reaches his desk.
Fetterman said he could support a standalone voter ID bill, stripped of the mail-in ballot restrictions and the gender provisions. “I’m not going to tell 83% of Americans that they’re wrong,” he said, signaling some room for negotiation on the narrower question.
