Republicans’ landmark election security bill makes no mention of energy or the environment, but green groups and congressional climate hawks say the legislation could be detrimental to their efforts to advance a pro-climate agenda.
As Senate Republican leaders prepare to bring the “SAVE America Act” to the floor for an initial vote this week, Democrats are vowing to filibuster for as long as it takes. Their opposition is rooted in the belief that the bill could disenfranchise tens of millions of Americans by making it more difficult for them to vote.
Some are concerned that the bill, which is intended to prevent undocumented people from casting ballots, would also affect some American citizens, including people who are disproportionately affected by environmental issues.
While the “Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act,” has almost no chance of passing as written, with Republicans not having the votes to overcome Democrats’ opposition, it has become the GOP’s single most important legislative priority, picking up momentum recently at the hands of President Donald Trump and Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chair Mike Lee (R-Utah), two of the GOP’s most vocal skeptics of science that points to humankind’s effects on climate change.
If Republicans do ultimately succeed in getting a version of the bill passed, environmentalists and some Democrats fear it could damage the democratic process ahead of November’s midterm elections and suppress the will of climate-minded voters and candidates.
Lee is disputing the notion that his legislation would harm what he called “Green New Scam candidates.” Still, Trump said last week that he was pushing hard for passage of the “SAVE America Act” in part because he believes it would “guarantee the midterms” for Republicans.
“Obviously, their goal is to lock in all of their regressive substantive policy, and the only way they can do that is by denying Democrats the gavels in the House and Senate,” said Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.).
Passage of the bill, Markey said, could effectively stymie congressional debates “about the real impact of climate change, the real impact on kitchen-table budgets that are affected by skyrocketing electricity and energy costs.”
Congressional Democrats will likely be unable to pass any major climate legislation while Trump is in office, but many have already started plotting some climate-focused priorities for post-2028.
The “SAVE America Act” could even complicate energy and environment policymaking without ever getting a vote. Trump has threatened to withhold his signature from most bills Congress passes until the “SAVE America Act” becomes law. A few conservative House members have said they will vote against all Senate-passed bills until the election bill succeeds.
“It supersedes everything else,” Trump said on social media.
Those ultimatums could undermine the GOP’s already narrow majority and potentially prevent Republicans from passing more partisan legislation on energy, mining or other natural resources issues.
“I don’t know what happens with the president, kind of the gauntlet he laid down,” said Senate Environment and Public Works Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.).
She has co-sponsored the “SAVE America Act” but is also trying to advance legislation on everything from permitting reform to chemical safety later this year.
“We’ll just have to see,” Capito said.
Greens sound the alarm
The “SAVE America Act,” sponsored by Lee in the Senate and Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) in the House, seeks to prevent undocumented people from voting in federal elections by requiring individuals to present proof of citizenship, such as a passport, to register to vote.
It would prohibit mail-only voter registrations and require photo ID at the ballot box to vote in federal elections in all states. The legislation would also direct states to proactively remove noncitizens from existing voter rolls.
While there is no evidence that undocumented people are trying to vote in significant quantities or that fraudulent voting has affected the outcome of any federal election, the bill has become a unifying cause among MAGA Republicans.
Trump has recently called for the GOP to attach additional conservative priorities to the legislation, including provisions targeting voting by mail and transgender people.
“It’s purpose-built to suppress the Democratic vote,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I), the ranking member on the Environment and Public Works Committee.
Nonpartisan and left-leaning advocacy groups have pointed out that more than 100 million Americans do not have a passport. They argue those citizens would need to pay to get one, setting up a sort of pay-to-play system for Americans to vote in their own elections. Presenting a birth certificate could also be challenging for many would-be voters, especially anyone who has changed their name.
Low-income Americans, women, people of color, residents of rural communities, LGBTQ+ individuals and families who have been displaced or lost documents in natural disasters are most likely to bear the burden of the voting requirements the legislation proposes, according to advocacy, analysis and government accountability groups.
“It is not a coincidence that those are the same communities that are most impacted by our adverse climate decisions,” said Justin Kwasa, the democracy program director at the League of Conservation Voters. The group has threatened to count votes for the “SAVE America Act” against members in its annual lawmaker scorecard.
“Everybody wants clean water, everybody wants a healthy environment in their communities, and so this is what people will vote for if they have a chance at fairly electing their representatives,” Kwasa said. “We can’t have a healthy environment without a healthy democracy.”
Rep. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), a co-chair of the House’s Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition, said the bill’s ability to reduce eligible voter participation could make it easier for the United States to cede more of its global climate leadership.
“Climate change is real, and we’re falling so far behind global initiatives,” Tonko said. “There’s innovation that’s coming with this, job creation. To have something like that — a voter-suppressive model — it’s just, I think, a setback.”
Lee fires back
The most ardent supporter of the “SAVE America Act” has been working furiously to shore up support for the bill among the few remaining Republican holdouts. He has been using social media to advocate for its passage.
Lee is disputing critics’ claims that the bill would effectively impose a “poll tax.” He recently noted on social media that the legislation does not directly impose fees for voting or registering and that it offers ways for would-be voters to prove their citizenship even if they do not have traditional documentation.
He has also fired back directly at environmentalists who allege that the bill could disenfranchise climate-minded voters and make it more difficult for environmental champions to be elected to federal office.
“The only way the SAVE America Act would make it less likely that Green New Scam candidates get elected is if their victories depend on illegal non-citizen voting,” Lee said in a statement.
“If they’re panicked about that,” Lee said, “perhaps they should try appealing to American voters.”
