SAVE America Act Faces Likely Defeat as Thune Declines Talking Filibuster Fight
“We don’t have the votes either to proceed, get on a talking filibuster, nor to sustain one if we got on it. But that is just a function of math.”
Despite pressure from President Donald Trump and the more than 90% of Republicans who support the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has declined to pursue either of the two paths that could potentially carry this bill across the finish line.
The SAVE America Act would require voters to present proof of citizenship when they register to vote and a photo ID at the ballot box. Regardless of party affiliation, roughly 80% of the electorate supports this legislation.
The fastest way to pass this measure would be to eliminate the filibuster, but there is nowhere near enough support among Senate Republicans to take that step. Democrats tried to abolish the filibuster the last time they controlled the Senate, but the effort collapsed after Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) refused to go along. They will almost certainly try again the next time they control the levers of power.
Nevertheless, Republicans appear close to having enough votes to force a talking filibuster. Doing so would require Senate GOP leaders to persuade a handful of reluctant lawmakers to fall in line. After all, isn’t that the purpose of having whips in Congress?
The SAVE Act’s passage is so important to Trump that on Sunday, he declared he would not sign any other legislation until it passes. Given the stakes, it is hardly unreasonable to expect party leaders to pull out all the stops to secure its passage.
Yet Thune seems content to allow the bill to fail without making a determined push to pass it.
BETRAYAL: Thune REFUSES to use the talking filibuster for the SAVE America Act despite Trump's clear demand to protect our elections from noncitizen voting. pic.twitter.com/Dzq8CNNGfe
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) March 10, 2026
Fox News reported on Thursday that Thune intends to bring the bill to the floor next week — without even trying to force a talking filibuster.
“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. “But that is just a function of math, and there isn’t anything I can do about that. I mean, I understand the president’s got a passion to see this issue addressed, as we all do.”
A strong leader would try to change the math.
While a talking filibuster would be a cumbersome process that could tie up the Senate for weeks, it would ultimately allow the bill to pass with a simple majority rather than the 60 votes normally required.
What could be more important than the integrity of our elections — ensuring that voters are who they say they are and that noncitizens are prevented from voting? Nothing.
According to Fox:
Thune has time and again warned that the votes aren’t there among Republicans to block Democratic amendments that could completely reshape the bill.
Still, Trump and a sphere of online conservative voices are demanding that the bill pass at any cost. Trump warned that if it does not, Republicans will fall flat in the upcoming midterm election cycle.
“It will guarantee the midterms. If you don’t get it, big trouble,” Trump told House Republicans at their annual policy retreat earlier this week.
Next week, I will bring the SAVE America Act to the floor. Senate Democrats will be forced to defend their outrageous positions on these issues and explain to the American people why common sense and the Democrat Party have parted ways. pic.twitter.com/WrC6igztjN
— Leader John Thune (@LeaderJohnThune) March 12, 2026
With the exception of Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), Democrats oppose the bill, arguing that it will make it more difficult for people to cast a vote. That is just code for ‘it will make it harder for us to cheat in elections.’
JUST IN: 🇺🇸 Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says "10s of billions of people" will be kicked off the voter rolls by the SAVE America Act.
There are currently 8 billion people on Earth. pic.twitter.com/w48BcgLC4n
— Remarks (@remarks) March 10, 2026
IDs are required for everything we do in modern America.
Even Democrats know there are times when identification is necessary. Last month, for example, anti-ICE agitators in Minneapolis demanded that drivers show identification before they were “allowed” to proceed through the makeshift traffic blockades they erected on city streets. Yes, the same activists who have so fiercely opposed voter ID requirements at the ballot box demanded IDs from passersby.
Likewise, Democratic politicians and candidates require supporters to show ID before allowing them into townhalls or campaign events.
Thune pointed out in his floor speech that photo IDs are required to take out a library book.
This is arguably the single most important piece of domestic legislation to come before Congress this year. It is imperative that Thune deploy every available tool to pass this bill, or he doesn’t deserve his position of leadership.
If we don’t have secure elections, we don’t have a country. It really is as simple as that.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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Comments
Thune, the cartoon “leader”…
Thune is out of tune with the American voter.
Coward.
He’s a real f**kstick.
Thune comes from SD – every statewide office is held by a republican. He hasn’t a clue what it’s like for the rest of us who have to fight to get things done. IF Rs keep the Senate, for heaven’s sake elect a leader who knows how to and will play hardball.
Schmuck must have attended Public Schools.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says “10s of billions of people” will be kicked off the voter rolls by the SAVE America Act.
There are currently 8 billion people on Earth.
He the bill would allow ICE to kick these tens of billions off the rolls. Huh?!
Thune and his establishment surrogates are making some interesting mathematical arguments. If the votes don’t exit to change the rule and force a speaking filibuster, simple majority, then how does Thune expect to pass any legislation out of the Senate? Trump has plainly and unambiguously stated he will impose his veto on any/every piece of legislation until the SAVE act is passed. It requires 2/3 in the Senate and very importantly 2/3 in the HoR to overcome a veto. Thune and his establishment globalist, neocon, corporatist allies, apologists and surrogates are full of crap. The GoP is supposed to be the party of less Govt and limited Federal activity. Shutting down the Senate with a speaking filibuster and precluding any legislation, including any budget legislation to fund more govt, until the SAVE act is passed is a win from the perspective of those who want less gov’t. No excuses get it done come hell or high water..
In the usual manner, by getting enough Democrats to vote for cloture. Anything that can’t achieve that doesn’t pass. That’s how the senate has been operating for decades.
He’s betting Trump will fold on that when he sees that it’s not happening. Or else nothing will pass, and Trump will be to blame.
Milhouse is doing yoeman’s work trying to remind everyone why the filibuster exists, and that Thune is recognizing reality here. But, if you want to see the numbers, here’s someone who’s done the analysis: https://hotair.com/generalissimo/2026/03/12/can-we-talk-about-the-so-called-talking-filibuster-and-why-it-wont-save-the-save-act-n3812767.
The short version – Thune is right, the numbers aren’t there.
The missing piece of the analysis is that many of us don’t care if the Senate is locked up and nothing passes. Firstly it ignores that the elderly and infirm in the Senate ain’t up to remaining in the chamber. Demand a quorum call every hour, keep them in the chamber till they start having stokes. Deny floor privileges to any Staff. Sucks for you Senator X who needs heart medicine and didn’t bring it.
Secondly it forces the actual vote and the accountability for the vote that most of the establishment wants to avoid. They really don’t want the ‘smoke’ as the kids say. There’s a big glaring difference between the STATED preferences and the REVEALED preferences of these globalist, neocon, corporatist establishment goons. Make them go on the record with their REVEALED preference by forcing a vote.
Third the votes may or may not be there. We won’t truly know until the vote is held…or as Wayne Gretzky put it ‘you miss every shot you don’t take’.
We are too quick to push the right and say they are traitors, but this is an occasion where they are traitors on both sides (and far more on the left).
The American people representing all of the country’s racial demographics overwhelmingly support voter ID laws. The left is betraying their constituents as well in this one. The only question is why both sides won’t be held accountable enough for this in their desperate attempts to retain corrupt power from a corrupt voting process over the people they are supposed to represent.
healthguyfsu,
Yes and another observation I’d make is along those same lines. The ‘battle’ here is currently waged between the Establishment and the center/right populists. The Establishment has successfully fended off most efforts at serious reforms in DC for the past 15ish years.
The center/right populists have more/less stayed in the fold despite the Lucy pulling the ball routine from the establishment. That has led the establishment to be openly contemptuous of the loyalty shown and they take it for granted as their due with an attitude of ‘where they gonna go’?
The reality is that the center/right populists have much more in common with the center/left populists than with the establishment of the GoP. The intransigence of the establishment to at minimum force a procedural vote on the filibuster to require a speaking filibuster is incredibly short slighted. I personally take it as a betrayal and will work to unseat those who did it. If Trump fails to impose his veto after promising it I will vote against every candidate he endorses for at least one election cycle.
If the center/right populists make common cause with the center/left populists and create a third party dedicated to running the establishment uniparty out of office then lots of potential things may happen, not all of them good, not all of them bad …but things will be different.
They don’t have to stay in the chamber. We do. They can leave one member talking and the rest of them go sleep, eat, do their actual jobs, while we have to all stay there lest they call for a quorum.
And that brings me to your idea to call for a quorum every hour. That’s exactly what they would want us to do, because a quorum call wastes time, while the member speaking can sit down and rest his voice for a while.
I don’t think we can do that without a rule change, which can itself be filibustered.
That’s what Thune is doing. Now that he’s given up on actually passing it, he is bringing it to the floor so the Democrats have to be seen publicly taking their position against it.
The 60 votes to break a filibuster?! Those are certainly not there. The 48 or so senators willing to camp out for weeks or months? Thune knows whether they’re there because he’s asked them all in person.
I don’t know what you mean. What kind of vote would that be? There is no vote to require a speaking filibuster. The bill is simply brought to the floor and senators start talking. And talking and talking and talking. You need a vote to stop them, not to let them continue. And the vote to stop them needs 60 votes. If you don’t have that then you have to either give up or outwait them, and that takes weeks in which every member of the majority must remain in the chamber, not doing their actual work.
The Fillibuster will die the moment the Democrats need it to.
Kill it now *first*.
No, it won’t, because they know they’ll need it again one day.
You left out that would also require Trump not to ballistic and demand GoP Senators and very importantly GoP Reps in the HoR remain steadfast in blocking any new legislation until SAVE act passes.
Even that leaves out the range of potential responses from a significant portion of the GoP base. Nothing says we must vote for GoP candidates for Rep and Senator in the Fall who fail to do everything they can support all efforts to get SAVE act passed.
I’m to the point that if it takes removing 1/3 ish of the GoP Senate and most of the GoP HoR then so be it. Burn it down for a single Congress. Let that serve as spectacular object lesson. It isn’t as if the GoP majority is cutting current year spending nor doing much else to advance the agenda, the forward momentum is coming from the Executive.
Thune is worse than useless
And had those two not come along another Democrat would have been found to declare against it. They were not going to do it, because they’re not stupid. They regret Reid’s dumb move in getting rid of it for nominations, and they don’t want to do any more damage to it, because they know they won’t be in the majority forever. The “attempt” was a show for their base, and they made sure it would fail.
For the same reason I doubt they will do it if they regain the majority. They may make another show of trying, but if so they’ll probably again make sure it fails.
The filibuster has lasted for nearly 200 years as a game of chicken; each side allows it to continue so it’ll be there when they next need it. None have ever been able to be sure that if they leave it alone it will still be there when they need it, but they can be sure that if they blow it up then it definitely won’t be, so they decide to leave it alone.
If that’s the case, why were Manchin and Sinema ousted by the party and no longer supported?
You’re assuming a lot of your opinion to be true.
They weren’t. They were never ousted. The filibuster vote was in January 2022. Both Sinema and Manchin remained in the Democrat Party and the Democrat caucus. Sinema left the Democrats in December 2022, and Manchin did so in May 2024; both remained in the Democrat caucus.
Bring that POS to the White House and ream his @ss out, then send him back to do his job.
He doesn’t work for the president. He works for his colleagues in the Republican senate caucus, and is answerable only to them. And they all know each other and know whether he’s telling the truth that the votes aren’t there.
And the Senate is supposed to work work for the citizens. Why is it they won’t pass something that supported by 85% of americans? When do we ever see anything that supported by that much of the country? This should be easy
Congressmen, and especially senators, are not supposed to be influenced by polls. They’re not supposed to vote for what’s popular, but for what they believe to be right. Or, as in this case, for what they judge to be in their party’s interest. That’s what they were elected to do.
Look, if the votes aren’t there they aren’t there. Senators can be very stubborn critters; whips can try to persuade them but they’re often not successful, and this is a major ask. A talking filibuster would require almost the entire Republican caucus to camp out in the senate chamber for weeks. If there are five senators who’ve told Thune in no uncertain terms that they refuse to do this, and they can’t be persuaded, then there’s just no way to do it. There may not be any stops left that have not already been pulled.
None of us is privy to the private conversations Thune and his whips have had with Republican senators. So we can only guess what has been said. So if Thune says the numbers just aren’t there, how can we possibly know that it’s not true? Now I would like it better if he would name the ones refusing to go along, so they can be individually pressured. But they’ve likely taken pressure into account and if they’re determined they’re determined.
How about call a vote to change the rule to require a speaking filibuster? Then we know who is and isn’t in favor of it. Let the chips fall where they may instead of refusing to put the spotlight on the ‘reluctant’ Senators to protect them from public scrutiny and an angry electorate.
What do you mean? Exactly what change to the current rules would you want? And don’t forget that such a change can also be filibustered.
Then out them so we can primary them.
There is no reason to re-elect anyone who is against the SAVE act, The easiest decision in the history of decisions.
Otherwise I do not believe I will see a fair election again in my lifetime.
I called Thune twice
He doesn’t care , he’s been given orders by those who have given him secret accounts
There was a report that many of his top contributors have “maintaining the filibuster” as part of their agenda. He’s bought and paid for. And I doubt it’s in the best interests of the country.
Everyone sane wants to maintain the filibuster. It’s all that saved us when the Dems had the majority, and we’d better hope that it’ll still be there when next we need it. We can’t guarantee that, but we can at least not blow it up ourselves.
Enforcing a real filibuster keeps it alive for our use later, but don’t underestimate how difficult it would be. It’s not something one does casually. In this case I think it’s worth it, but it can’t work without almost the entire caucus willing to participate. If there are five who’ve told Thune they’re not willing to camp out in the senate chamber for weeks, and they won’t be persuaded otherwise, there’s nothing he can do about it.
Sorry Thune, you aren’t even a good liar
” I understand the president’s got a passion to see this issue addressed, as we all do.”
If that were the case then this have been on the floor a long time ago, Who are the we all, because there is a small group that are not part of the so called we all. Let’s get people on the record, the permanent, recorded vote record.
Not if he’s been trying to get the numbers to enforce a proper filibuster and actually pass it. Now that he’s failed he is bringing it to the floor.
The GOPe is useless.
isn’t opposing this act the same as saying ” i don’t care who votes in our elections (or how many times they vote). i don’t care if they are not a citizen of our country. i don’t care if they’re in our country illegally. i don’t care if they are legally prevented from casting a ballot. i don’t care if they cannot provide basic proof of their identity. ”
do you really believe that folks who are here illegally, are lawfully unable to vote, can present no proof of their identity, etc. give the remotest damn about the stability of our country, our culture or our very way of life ?
who would not support such a measure to protect us ALL right now in the present or later on in the lives of our descendants ?
thune needs to get off his ass and get this handled–there is nothing on his agenda more important to our country
Yes, that is what Democrats are saying. There is nothing Thune can do to stop them saying that.
it defies logic that anyone can vote just b/c they are in a country at the time that an election is being held
Yeah, if you want to see how the country ends, this is it. Even when we put our people in there and you have 85% of the people supporting something, the traitors still won’t do it. Screw them
Most Americans want secure and fair elections.
Similarly, since the 1980s most Americans wanted our borders controlled and our immigration laws enforced. But neither Republicans nor Democrats followed the people’s will, in part because businesses wanted cheap labor and Democrats wanted new voters.
It’s a big club, but if you’re an unconnected conservative or Republican, you’re not in it!
democracy dies in darkness
demos-cracy is aborted at the twilight fringe
Civil rights are crushed by Democratics.
Democrats have no love for this Nation as constituted. And a number of Republicans feel the same. They probably all wish that George Washington had wanted to be King of the United States and have installed an aristocratic hierarchy of rulers instead of this inconvenient Republic that we have. The Republic is a roadblock to their absolute power. But they are doing their best to destroy it using fraud in elections and other venues. That is why they hate the SAVE Act.
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