Thune stands firm on SAVE America Act as Trump threatens legislative blockade

Washington — Senate Majority Leader John Thune made clear Tuesday that an elections bill known as the SAVE America Act faces an unlikely path to passage, reiterating his skepticism about the bill's chances as President Trump threatens a legislative blockade until Congress approves the measure.

"There are no easy ways to do this," Thune told reporters Tuesday. "Believe me, we've examined all the options."

The legislation, which the House passed last month, would require proof of citizenship to register to vote, along with photo ID to cast a ballot. But Mr. Trump has demanded that the legislation go farther and ban all mail-in ballots. He has also pushed to include restrictions on transgender athletes participating in women's sports and on gender-affirming surgeries for minors.

On Sunday, the president said in a post on Truth Social that he would not sign other legislation until the SAVE America Act is passed, saying it "supersedes everything else" and "must be done immediately." The White House clarified that he would make an exception for funding the Department of Homeland Security, which remains shut down.

Democrats widely oppose the SAVE America Act, warning that its proof of citizenship requirements could disenfranchise millions of eligible voters. And with 53 Republicans in the Senate, support from across the aisle would be needed to reach the 60-vote threshold to advance the legislation under the normal process. 

Senate Republican leaders have instead faced pressure for weeks from the right flank of the GOP to move the bill forward through what's known as a talking filibuster. The maneuver would sidestep the need for 60 votes, but it would gum up the Senate floor for weeks and require near-unanimous support from the GOP conference. 

Thune, a South Dakota Republican, outlined to reporters on Monday that based on previous efforts, he finds it "very hard to see" the maneuver resulting in passage of the bill.

"You have to have unified support, not only in support of the ultimate goal, which is the SAVE America Act, but on the process to be able to defeat amendments that would undo the legislation in the first place," Thune said. "We can't find a piece of legislation in history that's been passed that way."

The president doubled down on his demands later Monday, stressing the importance of passing the legislation during a news conference.

"We're going for the gold, and we're going to have to fight like hell," Mr. Trump said. "We don't have a country if we're going to have elections that are so corrupt and so dishonest, like we've witnessed over the last period of time."

Thune told reporters Tuesday morning that he hasn't talked to the president since he made the demands over the weekend. And he made clear that Senate Republicans don't have the votes.

"The votes aren't there, one, to nuke the filibuster, and the votes aren't there for a talking filibuster," Thune said. "It's just a reality. And I'm a person who has to deliver, sometimes, the not-so-good news that the math doesn't add up. But those are the facts. There's no getting around it."

Meanwhile, some Republicans have floated moving the legislation through the budget reconciliation process, which allows the party in power to approve a measure at a 51-vote threshold if its provisions have direct budgetary consequences. 

Thune said the approach would also be "very, very difficult."

"We have tried to see if there's a way we could thread the needle and use reconciliation, and it's just, you kind of come back to the same place," Thune said. 

Ultimately, Thune said "we want to get the outcome, we want to get the result." And he noted that "there's almost unanimous agreement on the policy."

"But the process and how to get there, you know, are not going to include nuking the filibuster," Thune said. "That's just not going to happen."