SerpApi.Org
(The Hill) — GOP leaders have recently tried to make a comparison about voter ID laws in the SAVE Act to something that is drawing more than a few eyes: Olive Garden’s never-ending pasta pass.
In a hearing on Monday, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) mentioned the Italian food chain in her speech that touched on the SAVE Act.
“Heck, you even need to present a photo ID to utilize the Olive Garden Never-Ending Pasta Pass,” Foxx said.
The Chairwoman of the Rules Committee was not alone in this sentiment with Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) arguing, “you wanna go to Olive Garden? You gotta show a picture ID. This isn’t complicated stuff.”
When the never-ending pasta pass was initially reintroduced, the popular pasta chain stated customers would need to show a photo ID to be able to use it.
Republicans are now using that requirement to argue that ID requirements in the SAVE Act for voting should not be seen as that big of a deal.
The rhetorical flourish has spread to the White House, with spokesperson Abigail Jackson remarking last week on Fox News’s Newsmax that, “Olive Garden takes their Pasta Pass security more seriously than Democrats take election security.”
Democrats have started to push back on this talking point by arguing that the comparison does not hold up.
“It is not a lunch special. You have a constitutional right to vote; you don’t have a constitutional right to a breadstick or a bowl of pasta,” said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.).
At issue is the requirements in the SAVE America Act, which Democrats have blocked in the Senate.
The SAVE America Act would establish a national limit of what kinds of identification can be used and establish additional documents needed for voter verification. It has come under heavy fire from Democratic leadership with Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer referring to it as “nothing more than Jim Crow 2.0.”
Currently, thirty-six states require voters to show some form of identification at the polls with fourteen not requiring any documentation to vote, according to the National Conference on State Legislature.
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