Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) laid down on MS NOW Thursday why he opposes a proposed Republican bill that would put draconian new restrictions on voting, including a requirement to produce proof-of-citizenship documents to register to vote — something that goes drastically beyond even most GOP-controlled state's voter ID laws, and could prevent some 21 million eligible people from voting, including married women with name changes.
Schumer noted that his defiance, and the particular language he used to shoot down the bill, has infuriated MAGA activists — and he refuses to apologize for it.
"So, Leader Schumer, this talk about election security has revived discussions of the SAVE Act, which you have said you oppose," said anchor Jonathan Lemire. "Proponents of it say that it's, you know, to have ID, you have to prove U.S. citizenship to be able to vote. Some of the claims they make, to be clear, are overstated. We know there's not widespread election fraud, but polling does suggest, there's a new Pew Research poll that 95 percent of Republicans, but also 71 percent of Democrats, like this idea. So why do you not?"
"It's Jim Crow 2.0," said Schumer. "And I called it Jim Crow 2.0, and the right wing went nuts all over the internet. That's because they know it's true."
"What they're trying to do here is the same thing that was done in the South for decades, to prevent people of color from voting, for instance," Schumer continued. "If you can't, if you change, you're a woman who got married and changed your last name. You won't be able to show ID and you'll be discriminated against. if you can't find a birth certificate or a proper ID, you'll be discriminated against."
"This is vicious and nasty," he added. "And I said to our Republican colleagues, it will not pass the Senate. You will not get a single Democratic vote in the Senate. We're not reviving Jim Crow all over the country. And when the American people hear what exactly it is doing and what its intent is doing, they're going to be against it as well."
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