GOP senator’s gambit exposes false Dem claims about supporting voter ID
Democratic leaders say they don’t oppose voter ID laws, but they blocked a bill to impose a nationwide requirement Thursday.Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, attempted to pass a standalone voter ID...
By Fox News · Fox News
Democratic leaders say they don’t oppose voter ID laws, but they blocked a bill to impose a nationwide requirement Thursday. Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, attempted to pass a standalone voter ID bill through unanimous consent Thursday night, but Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., blocked the measure on the Senate floor. "I’ve heard my Democratic colleagues say that they don’t oppose photo ID laws," Husted said during a floor debate. "I heard Senator Schumer say, ‘Our objection as Democrats is not to photo ID. I heard Senator Fetterman say he supports a photo ID law." "If I could quote him, ‘If the GOP wants real reform over a show vote, put out a clean standalone bill and I’m in aye," Husted continued, referring to a social media post Fetterman released Tuesday. "Well, that’s what I’m doing tonight." THUNE ACCUSES CRITICS OF 'CREATING FALSE EXPECTATIONS' AMID BACKLASH OVER STALLED SAVE AMERICA ACT The measure would have enacted a nationwide voter ID requirement, though 36 states already have similar rules on the books. The Ohio Republican said citizens could use a state-issued driver’s license, a U.S. passport or valid military or tribal ID to meet the requirement. Husted, who is running for a full six-year term in November, slammed Democrats’ opposition to the voter ID measure in a brief interview with Fox News Digital on Friday. "So apparently they would like people to believe that they’re for photo ID, but when it comes down to it, they didn’t appear to be," the Ohio Republican said. Husted’s voter ID gambit came as the Senate is currently in the midst of a multi-day floor fight over the SAVE America Act, a Trump-backed elections bill aimed at preventing noncitizens from voting. The marathon debate schedule is a move by Republicans to pin blame on Schumer and Democrats for blocking the bill. But it’s not the same floor takeover, called a talking filibuster, that President Donald Trump, a cohort of conservatives in the Senate GOP and a fervent right-wing social media campaign…