DAVID BLACKMON: Why Climate Lobby Fears American Citizens Deciding Elections

As the Senate debate on the SAVE America Act kicked off Tuesday, it was quite interesting to observe which factions were lining up for and against the bill.

E&E News dropped a gem highlighting the actions of one faction titled “Why climate champions are sweating the ‘SAVE America Act.’” The piece depicts a meltdown mode gripping environmental groups and their Democratic allies in Congress over the bill, sponsored by Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee and Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy.

Why exactly are these self-appointed saviors of the planet so panicked? The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act does one simple thing: it affirms that only U.S. citizens get to vote in U.S. federal elections. That’s it. No energy policy mandates. No green subsidies, no tax breaks for anyone. Just common-sense election integrity.

The bill requires documentary proof of citizenship — think passport, birth certificate, or equivalent REAL ID-compliant document — to register to vote. It mandates photo identification at the ballot box in every state. And it directs states to proactively scrub non-citizens from existing voter rolls while ending mail-only registration loopholes.

So why the collective sweat from the climate lobby? The answer seems obvious – they know their radical agenda is unpopular with U.S. citizens.

League of Conservation Voters (LCV) Democracy Program Director Justin Kwasa spelled it out with stunning clarity. The bill, he warned, would hit hardest on “low-income Americans, people of color, rural residents, LGBTQ+ individuals and families displaced by natural disasters” – all the prepared talking points being parroted on the political left. The implication is insulting: That these traditional Democrat Party voting blocs don’t drive, don’t buy groceries, don’t enroll their children in school, don’t participate in U.S. society in the same ways all other citizens do.

Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse was even more blunt, admitting the bill is “purpose-built to suppress the Democratic vote.” Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Ed Markey piled on, claiming Republicans want to “lock in all of their regressive substantive policy” by denying Democrats “the gavels.”