Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) strongly disagreed with President Donald Trump’s speech on election security on Thursday night.She posted on X, saying the SAVE America Act, which Trump pushed during his speech, will not get passed in the Senate and should be thrown away with his other conspiracy theories.Her message came shortly after Trump’s speech, which lasted about 25 minutes.In the speech, Trump announced the release of classified intelligence materials that he claimed show foreign interference and internal cover-ups in the US election system.
Murray’s post read: “After listening to the president’s rambling address, I want him to know that the SAVE America Act is going NOWHERE in the Senate.
It belongs in the trash with the rest of Donald Trump’s conspiracy theories.America, use your vote and your voice to save our democracy.”
In his speech, Trump started by talking about economic and border policies before moving on to what he called “really, really big news” about election security.
He said he had released intelligence reports showing that China had access to about 220 million US voter records from the 2020 election.He also accused unnamed “deep state” officials in US intelligence agencies of hiding this information from him and Congress.He mentioned a report showing around 278,000 non-citizens were registered to vote, and pointed to a long ballot count in a Los Angeles mayoral race as evidence of issues in the voting system.According to Fox News, Trump called these problems “shocking” and said they had been hidden from the public for years.He said the documents were reviewed and confirmed by several groups, including the White House Government Transparency Task Force and top intelligence officials.
Trump used most of his speech to urge Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, a bill that would require photo ID for voting, proof of citizenship for voter registration, and stricter rules for mail-in voting, only allowed in specific cases like illness, disability, military service, or travel.
The bill, called the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, has been pushed by the administration for months.Republicans argue it is needed to stop non-citizens from voting, though this is already a crime under current law.The House passed the bill earlier this year, but it has stalled in the Senate, where it needs 60 votes to move forward.
Murray has been openly against the bill for months.
In a speech earlier this year, she said the legislation would remove American citizens from voter rolls, end mail and online voter registration, reject common IDs used to register to vote, make voting more expensive, force in-person registration, and penalize women who change their last names after marriage.
Murray also joined other Democrats in opposing attempts to attach the bill to unrelated legislation.
In a joint statement with Senators Chuck Schumer, Alex Padilla, and Jack Reed, she and her co-signers said the SAVE Act uses Trump’s election conspiracy theories to impose new federal rules on states, creating major obstacles for eligible voters.They promised to use all available tools to stop the bill from passing.
Murray’s criticism of the administration goes beyond election issues.
She recently voted against the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027, saying Trump had started a reckless and costly war against Iran without Congress’s approval or public support.She criticized the administration for pushing an open-ended military budget while ignoring domestic affordability concerns.
Murray’s post on Thursday reflected a broader Democratic response to Trump’s speech.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer both criticized Trump’s remarks right after the speech.They accused him of bringing up unproven claims about the 2020 election to undermine confidence in the upcoming midterms.Schumer told reporters that the SAVE Act had been rejected by the courts, by Congress, and even by members of Trump’s own party.He said the bill is not going anywhere.
Even without Democratic opposition, the SAVE America Act faces major structural challenges in the Senate.
According to reports from The Epoch Times, the Senate parliamentarian has previously said parts of the bill do not follow the Byrd Rule, which limits what can be included in a budget reconciliation bill.This would make it harder for Republicans to use a reconciliation package to get the bill passed, which is a strategy they have considered as a way to bypass Democratic resistance.
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