Schumer says Dems will fight voter ID push 'tooth and nail,' balks at DHS role in elections

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said that Senate Democrats will block the GOP-backed SAVE America Act requiring voter ID and proof of citizenship to vote. Politics Schumer says Dems will fight voter ID push 'tooth and nail,' balks at DHS role in elections Schumer opposes SAVE America Act despite polling showing 83% of Americans support voter ID requirements By Alex Miller Fox News Published February 15, 2026 3:26pm EST Facebook Twitter Threads Flipboard Comments Print Email Add Fox News on Google close Video Sen. Hagerty weighs 'complicated process' in Senate to advance SAVE Act Senator Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., discusses the path forward for the SAVE Act, what lawmakers can do to advance the legislation and the strength of the U.S.-Japan alliance under Prime Minister Takaichi. NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., vowed Sunday that Senate Democrats will block the latest GOP-backed effort to require proof of citizenship to vote. "We will not let it pass in the Senate," Schumer told CNN’s Jake Tapper. "We are fighting it tooth and nail. It's an outrageous proposal that is, you know, that shows the sort of political bias of the MAGA right. They don't want poor people to vote. They don't want people of color to vote because they often don't vote for them."Schumer’s comments came after Tapper pressed him on his opposition, noting that polling shows roughly 83% of Americans support some form of voter identification. That figure comes from a Pew Research poll published last year that found 71% of Democratic voters surveyed supported presenting an ID to vote. COLLINS BOOSTS REPUBLICAN VOTER ID EFFORT, BUT WON’T SCRAP FILIBUSTER Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced that Democrats wouldn't accept a funding extension to DHS with just days left until a partial shutdown. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images) Still, Schumer and most Senate Democrats have criticized the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, which passed the House last week and is expected to face a vote in the Senate. The bill would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and would establish a system for state election officials to share information with federal authorities to verify voter rolls. It would also allow the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to pursue immigration cases if non-citizens are found listed as eligible voters.Schumer and his caucus have panned the bill as voter suppression targeting poorer Americans and minority groups. FETTERMAN SLAMS DEMOCRATS' 'JIM CROW 2.0' VOTER ID RHETORIC AS PARTY UNITY FRACTURES Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., bucked his party once more on their messaging against voter ID legislation gaining momentum in the Senate, arguing that it wasn't "a radical idea." (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)"What they are proposing in this so-called SAVE Act is like Jim Crow 2.0," Schumer said. "They make it so hard to get any kind of voter ID that more than 20 million legitimate people, mainly poorer people and people of color, will not be able to vote under this law." Without support from Senate Democrats — save for a possible defection from Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa. — the bill is likely to fail. The only way around that would be eliminating the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster threshold — a move Republicans oppose — or forcing a so-called talking filibuster that could require hours of debate and stall other Senate business.HARDLINE CONSERVATIVES DOUBLE DOWN TO SAVE THE SAVE ACT Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called DHS Secretary Kristi Noem's assertion of her agency's involvement in elections a "load of bull." (Ash Ponders/Bloomberg via Getty Images)Schumer also pushed back on comments from DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, who earlier this week said elections "may be one of the most important things that we need to make sure we trust, is reliable, and that when it gets to Election Day that we've been proactive to make sure that we have the right people voting, electing the right leaders to lead this country." The comments come as Senate Democrats and the White House negotiate funding for DHS, which has been shut down since midnight Friday.CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APPPart of those negotiations includes Democrats’ demand that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents be kept away from several areas, including schools and polling places. "That's a load of bull," Schumer said. "They show no evidence of voter fraud. They show there's so little in the country. And to have ICE agents, these thugs, be by the polling places, that just flies in the face of how democracy works, of how we've had elections for hundreds of years, very successfully." Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate. Related Topics PoliticsSenateChuck SchumerElectionsKristi Noem More from Politics 54 mins ago Campus Radicals Newsletter: Antifa-linked group tells students to mobilize, college students fake disabilities