02.25.26

Cantwell Statement on President Trump’s SOTU Address

WASHINGTON, D.C. – After President Donald Trump concluded his State of the Union address, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) gave the following statement:

"Americans who were eager to hear President Trump’s plan to fight higher health care costs, higher food costs, and higher housing costs didn’t hear one. His speech left many Americans wondering how his vision of a new Gilded Age economy applies to them.

"He also made more baseless claims about our voting system. The President is threatening to nationalize our elections – power he doesn’t have under our Constitution. Plus, he’s pushing Congress to pass the SAVE America Act which will also cost Americans: time, money, and even their constitutional right to vote."

Independent fact checkers noted that President Trump made false claims in his speech about voting and the SAVE America Act. For example, CBS News said, “False: Trump claims SAVE AMERICA Act must be passed ‘to stop illegal aliens’ from voting in U.S. elections because ‘the cheating is rampant in our election.’” CBS noted that, “Multiple studies have found that noncitizen voting in federal elections, which is illegal, is rare,” and also, “The nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice found only 30 cases of suspected noncitizens voting reported by election officials in 2016 among 23.5 million votes cast across 42 jurisdictions reviewed.”

Similarly, PolitiFact stated about President Trump’s claims, “Trump has spread falsehoods about noncitizen voters since 2016.” PolitiFact also observed that, “Federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections, and cases of noncitizens voting are rare. Many states have been searching for noncitizens on the voter rolls and finding small numbers. For example, Utah found one confirmed noncitizen who voted out of 2 million voters.” PolitiFact also addressed the impact of the SAVE America Act on voters, including that it would “require people to provide documentary proof of citizenship such as a passport or birth certificate when registering to vote,” even though “The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law said more than 21 million eligible Americans do not have ready access to those documents.”