Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) ruffled feathers in his own party last month when he became the only Democratic senator who appeared to back President Donald Trump’s SAVE America Act, a bill that would impose draconian new restrictions on the right to vote.
In an interview with CBS’s Major Garrett released on Wednesday, however, he appeared to walk back that approval.
While the bill has “some truths” in it, Fetterman said, “I don’t support [it], in its current state.”
He also took a moment to slam Trump’s ongoing conspiracy theories about voting by mail. “The president is constantly critical on mail-in voting. And that’s ridiculous. It’s safe,” said Fetterman. “I can’t ever vote for that, because I could never agree, something that’s just not true.”
This is a contrast from Fetterman’s interview on Fox News at the start of February, in which he seemingly endorsed the legislation and criticized fellow Democrats for the rhetoric they were using to talk about it, including the characterization of the bill by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) as “Jim Crow 2.0.”
“It’s not a radical idea for regular Americans to show your ID to vote, and absolutely those things are not Jim Crow or anything,” said Fetterman. “Of course, that’s part of an awful, awful legacy of our nation.”
The SAVE America Act would require photo ID to vote nationwide, but some versions of the bill are so strict in what counts as ID that even driver’s licenses wouldn’t qualify in 45 out of 50 states. The bill would also impose massive new citizenship documentation requirements on anyone registering to vote, would restrict or eliminate registering by mail or online, and require state voter rolls to be checked with a Department of Homeland Security system that often falsely flags citizens as noncitizens.
Trump has put enormous pressure on Senate Republicans to pass the legislation despite lacking the votes to overcome a filibuster.
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