Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) will bring the SAVE America Act to the floor next week — setting up a doomed-to-fail messaging vote that is unlikely to quell mounting pressure from President Donald Trump and MAGA activists.
In a brief interview, Thune declined to say whether that vote will be held at the 60-vote threshold used for most legislation, but he reiterated Tuesday that not enough Senate Republicans support a talking filibuster, a workaround to that threshold, for the bill to pass.
“We’re discussing the manner and process by which it comes to the floor, but it is the intention to have it up next week,” Thune told the Washington Examiner.
The announcement will put an end to weeks of suspense on the SAVE America Act, which requires ID to cast a ballot and proof of citizenship to register to vote. Thune had long committed to bringing the legislation to the Senate floor, but the timing had always been up in the air as Republicans discussed whether to pursue a talking filibuster to pass it.
In the end, Thune said Tuesday that not enough Republicans support that path, with several viewing it as tantamount to blowing up the 60-vote threshold that requires bipartisan cooperation in the Senate. Thune had also raised concerns that a talking filibuster would eat up days or weeks of the Senate’s time, as it forces Democrats to hold the floor to prevent passage.
“We don’t have the votes either to proceed, get on a talking filibuster, nor to sustain one if we got on it,” Thune said in a Tuesday press conference.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), the lead Senate cosponsor of the SAVE America Act, is still pressing for concessions from leadership. He is asking Thune to replicate something akin to a talking filibuster, according to a source familiar with the matter, by prolonging the “hang time” between the first and second procedural steps. And Thune “seems open” to that strategy, according to the source.
Still, the Senate vote is sure to disappoint activists and lawmakers on the MAGA Right who have been urging Thune to pass the voting bill at any cost. The House Freedom Caucus on Tuesday called the vote “performance theater.”
“If Thune plans to kill the SAVE America Act by bringing it to the floor at the 60-vote threshold, he isn’t fooling anybody,” the conservative caucus said in a statement.
In recent days, Trump has joined that call, vowing not to sign virtually any bill until the SAVE America Act reaches his desk. On Monday, he described it as his “No. 1 priority” in a speech to House Republicans.
Critics have painted Thune’s decision not to pursue a talking filibuster as an example of Republicans “hiding” behind Senate procedure and argue that more could be done to whip votes in favor of the approach.
On Tuesday, Thune called the decision a matter of Senate “math” as he addressed Trump’s pressure campaign.
“I understand the president’s got a passion to see this issue addressed, as we all do,” Thune said. “For better or worse, I’m the one who has to be a clear-eyed realist about what we can achieve here.”
MAGA RIGHT SOURS ON THUNE OVER SAVE ACT FIGHT
Before the Senate votes on the SAVE America Act, it will first finish consideration of a sprawling housing bill. A separate priority, funding for the Department of Homeland Security, has languished in the Senate as Democrats demand reforms to how immigration enforcement is conducted.
Senate Democrats are universally opposed to the SAVE America Act, arguing it amounts to voter suppression. They are also expected to oppose a more sweeping version that Trump is asking for that includes a ban on mail voting and language on transgender participation in school athletics.