Comer knocks ‘weak’ Republicans who won’t support Trump-backed SAVE America Act

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On Sunday, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) bashed his counterparts in the Senate for not supporting the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act.

“Are you that weak? That’s my question to any Republican senator — are you that weak? To where if you vote for a valid ID to be shown to vote, you’re gonna get beat in your home state?” Comer said during an appearance on Fox News’s “The Big Weekend Show.”

“I mean, if you’re that weak, you don’t need to be a United States senator,” he added.

The House Oversight chair said there’s been a lack of collaboration between Republicans in the two chambers on how to pass the bill.

Comer’s frustrations at the stalemate align with grievances being aired by the White House as GOP senators maintain there aren’t enough votes to pass the legislation overhauling the voter registration process.

“All that I’m hearing from the Senate leadership is that they don’t have the votes,” Comer said, unless Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is “talking exclusively” with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).

“Not only do they not have 60 votes, they don’t have 50 votes — which I don’t believe that,” he added, referring to a simple majority vote that would occur if senators voted to eliminate the filibuster, as pushed by President Trump.

GOP Sen. Thom Tillis (N.C.) has questioned how the Trump administration plans to implement the SAVE America Act without attaching any federal dollars to the bill.

“Let’s assume you only allow early voting in the month of October,” Tillis said to The News & Observer last week. “Then do you honestly believe that we can have this thing up in 50 states? There’s no funding. There’s no specific implementation instructions.”

“It’s become a joke, in my mind for somebody that’s actually implemented voter ID law, how anybody can look the American voters in the eye and suggest that it could be implemented in time without just causing a huge impact on the elections, and ironically undermine the confidence of it,” the Republican added, later noting the bill was “dead” in his eyes.

Despite objections from some party members and concerns from some in leadership, Johnson on Sunday said the lower chamber would pass the SAVE America Act “one more time” through a budget reconciliation bill.

Trump has said he is in favor of the measure and is now wooing lawmakers in the Senate for support.

“I hope that the Senate will get it together and figure out something that we can pass to give the American people confidence in the integrity of the elections,” Comer said on Sunday.

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House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer

James Comer

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SAVE America ACt

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