GOP links SAVE Act to Olive Garden's unlimited pasta deal

foodJul 22, 2026243,973

Republican leaders likened voter ID rules in the SAVE America Act to Olive Garden’s never-ending Pasta Pass during congressional messaging this week. In a Monday hearing Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) said, “Heck, you even need to present a photo ID to utilize the Olive Garden Never-Ending Pasta Pass,” and Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) added, “you wanna go to Olive Garden? You gotta show a picture ID.” Olive Garden required a photo ID when it reintroduced the Pasta Pass, a fact Republicans cite to argue SAVE Act ID rules are not onerous. The White House spokesman Abigail Jackson made a similar point last week on Newsmax, saying, “Olive Garden takes their Pasta Pass security more seriously than Democrats take election security.” Democrats pushed back, with Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) saying, “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.” The SAVE America Act, which Democrats have blocked in the Senate, would set national limits on acceptable voter identification and require additional documents for verification; Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the measure “nothing more than Jim Crow 2.0.” Currently 36 states require some form of identification at the polls while 14 do not, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, and the Olive Garden comparison has become a focal talking point in debate over the bill.

Ron Filipkowski

@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social

The latest ridiculous coordinated Republican talking point on the SAVE Act is all about Olive Garden.

189921h ago

imchuckmiller.bsky.social157

I have ZERO interest in going to an Olive Garden to test this claim, but I’m pretty sure I could get “food, from a restaurant, without an ID”. I literally do it every day

David Seibert101

LOL. I understand why politicians have coordinated talking points. But at least try to make them not stupid.

Middlerage46

Get Olive Garden on the phone- STAT! 🤡 bsky.app/profile/midd...

Natty🇺🇸🇺🇦🇨🇦🏐🏈🐕🐴📎45

They show their drivers license not a passport, birth certificate, marriage certificate, and divorce decree

Liberty 4 Sale24

I showed my photo ID when I registered. In my state. I showed it when I got a passport. In my state. No one needs a "federal voting card" because the federal government has nothing to do with elections. I mean, other than whine like babies.

Nancy Ann ❌👑 👍🏻🐸22

They’re so utterly sure their supporters are complete morons.

Quoting this

@NewsJennifer (Jennifer Schulze)103

About that...you need $100 per person for a 'pasta pass' from Olive Garden. That buys you unlimited food & unlimited visits in a 13 week window. The name on the pass has to match your ID to make sure you aren't sharing the pass with anyone else. It was a limited promotion that is already sold out.

Princess Vimentin PhD | Cancer Biologist96

Comparing Olive Garden’s pasta deal with voting is dumb. An analysis of voter fraud data sourced from the Heritage Foundation shows that voter fraud over decades is miniscule. Brooking's Institute: Reported cases of voter fraud over the past 13-18 yrs is <1%. www.brookings.edu/articles/how...

Maj3

This just means the MAGA group chat Ashley St Clair revealed got their orders on what to push to the public. Side note, do they think MAGA voters eat at Olive Garden?

Sort of Damocles3

As usual, Scalise transcends merely stupid by forgetting to mention the pasta pass, implying OG has an ID-everyone policy.

Minerva47874627.bsky.social2

Wow. The Republicans are really reaching, using the requirement to have some kind of photo ID to get a pasta pass from Olive Garden to support the requirement to have a passport or birth certificate to be allowed to vote. One of these things is not like the other.

rabid🦊wolf🌈2

Aug 2013, FDA’s traceback confirmed the salad mix behind cyclosporiasis outbreaks in Iowa & Nebraska was supplied by Taylor Farms’ Mexican subsidiary to Olive Garden & Red Lobster restaurants taylor farms also just donated bigly to the gop & trump in the mid of this outbreak. false positive my ass

Tyabann2

it's really fascinating how they obviously get marching orders

SCP2

My culture is not your costume

Just Kevin2

Republicans should rename their SAVE Act to the Olive Gardens Reform of Elections Act, the OGRE Act.

Ross A. Isaacs

@rossisaacs.bsky.social

Olive Garden doesn't require a passport or birth certificate. It accepts a driver's license, unlike your SAVE act. Also, ordering pasta is nothing like voting for your leaders. If you can't get penne, it doesn't mean fascists will shoot you in the street.

88616h ago

Thoreau Away17

Wait, Olive Garden requires a driver’s license to eat pasta? I assumed they were making that bit up

Shannon Leigh8

I worked in the restaurant industry for years, never did I ever ask anyone for ID (unless they were asking for alcohol)

georgebrenner.bsky.social7

You’re sort of legitimizing their bull💩 by using their taking point I have voted in NYC for over 40 years and never been asked for any identification More than 1/3 of eligible voters don’t vote Republicans aren’t targeting voter fraud, they’re practicing voter SUPPRESSION

Independent Human (Chuck)5

Hey man. You'll need an ID if you wanna eat at Olive Garden. I can sell ya one for a good price.

Laura J.4

Also, you don’t actually need an ID to get pasta? Alcohol, sure. But that’s not what he said. Bad faith liars up and down.

Micky Penguins4

No, that would just be fusilli

Don Moynihan

@donmoyn.bsky.social

Enough with these bullshit comparisons. Does Olive Garden stop nearly 70 million women from eating pasta because their last name does not match their birth certificate? No. But the SAVE Act will make it harder for those women to vote. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-save-a...

Married women who took their partners’ names — around 69 million of them — will be especially impacted by a citizenship requirement. Their current names don’t match the names on their birth certificate–and only about half of women have a valid passport. In practice, it will be far more complicated for these women to ‘prove’ their citizenship. The surest option–a passport or a paper trail reconciling their married name with the name on their birth certificate–requires significant investments of time and money.

36611h ago

Steve C 🇺🇸🇦🇹🇵🇷3

I want someone to follow up with the question would an Olive Garden pasta pass but valid ID to vote?

Craig Carlisle3

They like to say dumb things that they know will stick with their dumb base

Dr Audrey Glover2

Does the Constitution explicitly say you can eat as much as you want at Olive Garden

Wayne Fryback2

Those who do not learn from the pasta are doomed to reheat it.

Quoting this

Lindsay Beyerstein27

Is bottomless pasta a constitutional right? No. So who cares what hoops you have to jump through to get slop at Olive Garden? Some restaurants make you get a tattoo of their logo on your face and that's not a problem because free breadsticks are not guaranteed in the constitution.

Wajahat Ali

@wajali.bsky.social

Can Americans who aren't rich elitists who support a rapist and violent insurrectionist like Steve Scalise go to their local Olive Garden and let us know if you need to provide a photo ID to get pasta? Please share your evidence. Help save America!

34213h ago

HigherEd Alicia19

OLIVE garden requires you show your ID If you already have a pass for their Never-Ending Pasta Bowl. The pass is not transferable. The NEPB allows the named person to have unlimited pasta for a year. Anyone who confuses unlimited pasta with voting needs to up their Lipitor intake.

Granny Smith6

Bruh. Going to Olive Garden is a huge ask. That food is gross, lol

Jen-of-Λrc6

@wajali.bsky.social — the “Olive Garden Never-Ending Pasta Pass” allows you to use ANY form of ID w/ your name & photo on it— including a Work ID or High School/ University ID cards. So, NO Republicans, it’s less restrictive than our elections. Dumbasses & their idiotic talking points. Pffft…

Puppy-Pal5

Ah steve Scalise, the guy who was saved by a lesbian cop and still gives talks and support to the, “ we care far too much about other people’s bedrooms club.”

rogue-ace.bsky.social2

I think they're confusing the Neverending Pasta Pass with government ID.

🌊 BostonPops 🌊2

I needed a birth certificate and a passport to get unlimited salad and breadsticks!

The Daily Show

@thedailyshow.com

Trump Slaps Fiery Tariff on Canada & SAVE Act Takes Voting Cues from Olive Garden youtu.be/Hfg94T3WOAA

2229h ago

Dave5

Carney is smarter than Trump and more respected on the world stage. Don't expect Canada to cave to that orange turd. We are in good hands with Carney leading Canada.

Idiokratie1

What Trump’s primetime speech reveals about his neurological decline youtu.be/LU16wp2sd_o...

Chaucer Doth Tweet

@levostregc.bsky.social

Pasta sauces yn the pan Breadstickes on the plate agayne Yn the Olive Garden chaunge the past Yn the Olive Garden wearinge furs and maskes

787h ago

Marty Taylor

@realmartyt7.bsky.social

x.com/atrupar/stat... #USD #PB As an airline Captain I hated Airborne Voting Airborne voters forced to show photo ID, passport and certified copy of a birth certificate made airborne voting or eating pasta at 36,000 ft. quiet difficult Fuck SAVE Act and Steve Scalise

3617h ago

Van der Burgh1

If the Republicans had to submit brain tissue samples they'd all test Negative.

Huggybear 🟧1

If the Save Act passes, it will be up to white men to save democracy for the rest of us. I’m queasy just thinking about it.

Dr. Mar

@boldnewme.bsky.social

A pasta pass is a private promotional membership. Voting is a constitutional right. Those aren’t comparable unless you’ve completely forgotten the difference between customers and citizens. Four accounts, one talking point, zero original thought.

Mike Lee
@SenMikeLee
American elections should not be less secure than Olive Garden's endless pasta.
Pass the SAVE America Act.

AG Todd Rokita • @AGToddRokita
We really live in a nation where Olive Garden's Never-Ending Pasta Pass is more secure than our elections! Make it make sense. Pass the SAVE
America Act.

Robby Starbuck C @robbystarbuck
Olive Garden requires ID to use their never ending pasta pass but most Democrat run states don't require your ID to vote. So in America, our pasta deals are literally more secure than our elections. Maddening and hilarious at the same time.

RNC Election Integrity @RNCVoteProtect
If you have to show ID to eat pasta at Olive Garden, you should have to show ID to vote.

219h ago

Quoting this

kikibella.bsky.social3

This is them not afraid to show their behinds, lack of intelligence, creativity and actual caring about the issues.

Eileen

@eileenmclaughlin.bsky.social

The more they try to normalize the lie of having to show ID at Olive Garden or the grocery store, the more we have to speak out against the SAVE AMERICA ACT. Educate yourself and others. Do not be tricked into supporting voter suppression.

1216h ago

TommasinaResist⚜️🦋🐈‍⬛

@tommasinaresist.bsky.social

Steve hasn't been to Olive Garden, obviously. No, there is no ID requirement to order pasta. And, no, the Save Act isn't about voter ID.

1516h ago

KevTheRev

@kevtherev.bsky.social

Unlimited pasta at Olive Garden isn't a Constitutionally guaranteed right.

187h ago

Johnny David La Fayette3

They so full of shit. Wish they would just run away to trump gaza or Argentina already ffs. They can take their cash. Leave us your homes and vehicles and we be OK in months 🤣🤣🤣🤣 We don't need oligarchy. Oligarchy needs us

Tony Serrata 🇺🇦2

I've never shown ID to get anything non alcoholic at Olive garden

Johnny David La Fayette1

Wtf lol. The conmen need a better con. Show picture I.D. ENDS mail in voting by way of voiding all who can't show up physically to the polls. I say let's all vote from our phone and go paperless. Save millions of tax dollars on paperless, mailing. And we can use the ID app .

Mr. Morbid (ミスター・モビッド)1

But it REALLY should be tho. Just saying 🤷‍♂️

rockymountaincat1

There's a marketing opportunity in that - unlimited when you show your copy of the pocket constitution. (*terms and conditions apply) * Excludes the version in gold print that you bought through the current WH occupant's PAC

Dave G1

It also doesn't require proof of citizenship which most Drivers License's don't provide - even RealID

Diana B. Henriques

@dianabhenriques.bsky.social

Once again: The "picture ID" accepted by Olive Garden IS NOT ACCEPTED BY THE SAVE ACT. The IDs that are accepted are expensive - an illegal ad hoc poll tax. So why doesn't the GOP support a national FREE photo ID for voters??? If journalists don't start pounding this, I'm going to lose my mind.

821h ago

Ski the Madman, Pro-choice, Pro-justice, Anti-fascist

@severalmadmen.bsky.social

For the record, the Olive Garden's all you can eat pasta pass is not a constitutionally guaranteed right Just sayin...

97h ago

keenoire.bsky.social

@keenoire.bsky.social

One more time: The SAVE Act requires proof of citizenship, NOT JUST A PHOTO ID. A REAL ID won't work (unless you live in one of the 5 states that puts citizenship on the ID). You don't have to show proof of citizenship to get unlimited pasta at Olive Garden. Scalise et al are well aware of this.

1018h ago

LauraD-in-Indy

@laurad-in-indy.bsky.social

This isn't just garden-variety Republican lying, this is INTENTIONALLY DECEITFUL PROPAGANDA. They're betting most Americans are too stupid or lazy to check for themselves, look up the bill & read it. The SAVE Act REQUIRES PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP. on the front of that "photo ID". Olive Garden doesn't.

814h ago

2 sources

thehill.comGOP links SAVE Act to Olive Garden’s unlimited pasta deal thekitchn.comCreamy Artichoke Pasta

GOP links SAVE Act to Olive Garden's unlimited pasta dealfood

GOP links SAVE Act to Olive Garden's unlimited pasta deal

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