One Senator’s Final Plea To Save The SAVE America Act

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said on Tuesday that there is not enough support for the talking filibuster pushed by President Donald Trump and some Republican senators, placing the SAVE America Act’s Senate chances further in doubt.

The talking filibuster, first suggested by Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, would potentially clear a path for the GOP-controlled Senate to pass the legislation by forcing Democrats who oppose the SAVE America Act to speak non-stop on the Senate floor if they want to block a vote. Thune said the Republican-controlled Senate, however, doesn’t have enough support from his party to use the talking filibuster.

“The votes aren’t there, one, to nuke the filibuster, and the votes aren’t there for a talking filibuster,” Thune told reporters. “It’s just a reality. I’m the person who has to deliver sometimes the not-so-good news that the math doesn’t add up, but those are the facts and there’s no getting around it.”

Trump has ramped up the pressure on Senate Republicans to pass the SAVE America Act before the 2026 midterms, arguing that a law imposing strict voter ID requirements is vital for Republicans to perform well in the upcoming elections. The legislation would require voters to provide proof of citizenship before registration and would prohibit states from sending mail-in ballots to voters, with the only exceptions being illness, disability, military service, or travel.

Sen. Lee, who sponsored the legislation, told The Daily Wire that Senate Republicans need “to push even harder” to get the SAVE America Act across the finish line.

“Voters across the nation are demanding the SAVE America Act. If we need a few more Senators to get on board to beat a Democrat standing filibuster, that’s not a reason to give up — it’s a reason to push even harder,” he said. “If Republicans don’t fight hard to deliver this wildly popular legislation that President Trump has specifically requested, how can we ask Americans to entrust us with both chambers of Congress in the future?”

Recent polling has shown that despite harsh Democratic opposition to the SAVE America Act, a majority of Americans support strict voter ID requirements.

On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called the SAVE America Act “one of the most critical pieces of legislation in our nation’s history.”

“Passing the SAVE America Act is the most important thing that Republicans and frankly, Democrats, can do to strengthen election integrity and protect democracy,” Leavitt added. “It’s what the American people elected Republicans to do, and they must deliver on it as soon as possible.”

The press secretary also slammed Democrats for promoting the “myth” that the legislation would make it more difficult for women to vote.

“As far as married women who have changed their name, if they’re already registered to vote, they’re entirely unaffected by the SAVE Act, and for the some fraction of individuals who have changed their name or their address, they can still register to vote, of course. They just have to go through their state processes to update that documentation,” Leavitt continued.

Trump said on Sunday that he would not sign any other legislation until the SAVE America Act is sent to his desk. The White House kept the pressure up on Tuesday, urging Americans to “DEMAND” that their senators get on board with the Save America Act.

“We either fix the integrity of America’s elections, or we won’t have a country left to fight for,” the White House posted on X. The post also included a link to a White House webpage that provided contact information for each U.S. senator’s office.

Thune said on Monday that much of the pressure campaign on the SAVE America Act is coming from conservative activists on X, which he called a “paid influencer ecosystem,” not from within the Senate itself.

“We want to get to the SAVE Act,” Thune added, but he warned that a talking filibuster would make other priorities much “harder” to address.

The Senate effectively ended the talking filibuster in the 1970s and moved to the silent filibuster, which has allowed the opposition to stall votes only by stating their intent to filibuster, and thereby require 60 votes to invoke cloture. Trump, who also pushed for the Senate to abolish the filibuster, has suggested that he would take executive action to impose voter ID and citizenship requirements if Congress doesn’t pass the SAVE America Act.