The SAVE America Act is a voter ID measure that more than 80% of Americans support.
In Washington, the fate of the election reform Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act currently lies in the Senate after having passed the House of Representatives. The Senate has taken up the legislation this week, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s conference is fracturing over the bill.
The SAVE America Act is designed to safeguard American elections from voter fraud by requiring voters to present valid photo identification and proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections. It requires states to clean their voter rolls of noncitizens.
White House officials have referred to the bill as “the most popular election reform in decades.” The SAVE America Act has received broad bipartisan support from the public.
After passing the House, the bill moved to the Senate where progress has stalled. Senate Majority Leader John Thune initially opposed calls from Republican leaders to force a “talking filibuster” that would require Democrats to physically maintain control of the floor. When the Democrats yield, Republicans could send the bill to the president’s desk with a simple majority.
However, should Thune choose to invoke cloture in the Senate, the SAVE America Act would likely fail when Republicans are unable to obtain the required supermajority of 60 votes.
Senator Thune recently decided to bring the SAVE America Act to the floor for consideration without invoking cloture. The Senate will begin formal consideration of the bill this week.
Under the consideration process, senators will be able to propose amendments in rapid succession following a period of debate. Republican leadership will maintain control of the floor.
President Trump has put his support behind the SAVE America Act to secure American elections and drive the Senate to action on the bill.
“[Passing the SAVE America Act] must be done immediately. It supersedes everything else. MUST GO TO THE FRONT OF THE LINE. I, as President, will not sign other Bills until this is passed, AND NOT THE WATERED-DOWN VERSION – GO FOR THE GOLD,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said his caucus is “really, really motivated for do everything we can to stop [the bill].”
On Tuesday, no Democrats voted to support a motion to proceed to the bill. One Republican, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, voted against the motion. The vote was 51 to 48.
Republican Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky voted to proceed to the bill as a courtesy to Thune but has told colleagues privately that he does not support the legislation.
Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican of North Carolina, has expressed opposition to the bill and said provisions to restrict mail-in voting need more work.
“We’ll find out, you know? What I promised from the very beginning is we’ll get it up and we will have a vote. I can’t guarantee the result,” said Thune when asked if he knew whether the strategy will be enough to satisfy the president.
He said that Trump and others “want us to nuke the legislative filibuster in order to do it, and that’s also something I’ve been very clear about – there just aren’t the votes.”
