Trump-backed SAVE America Act will get a Senate vote, John Thune says

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., on Thursday said he would bring the SAVE America Act to the Senate floor next week.

The voter-ID bill backed by President Donald Trump would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo ID to cast a ballot.

For months Trump, GOP hardliners and online influencers like Elon Musk have railed against opponents of the bill and called repeatedly for a change to the Senate filibuster rule to ensure passage in the upper chamber. Thune supports the legislation but has rejected those calls, saying changing Senate procedure could have unintended consequences. Speaking from the Senate floor Thursday, he made no mention of changing the chamber’s rules, all but assuring the proposal will not pass.

“I can’t guarantee an outcome on this legislation, but I can guarantee that we are going to put Democrats on the record,” Thune said.

The House last month advanced the SAVE America Act on a mostly party-line vote. Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas was the lone Democrat to support the measure.

Most Democrats and voting rights activists argue the SAVE America Act would disenfranchise millions of voters and make it harder for women, minorities and young people to cast a ballot. Republicans, meanwhile, point to public polling that shows voter ID and barring noncitizens from voting — which is already a illegal in federal elections and happens rarely — are popular proposals.

“It is a package of common sense policies, the kind of common sense policies that should get an automatic yes vote from literally every member of this body,” Thune said on Thursday.

Anticipating the bill’s failure in the Senate, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who introduced the legislation, and other proponents have engaged in a pressure campaign to revert back to a “standing filibuster,” which requires dissenting members to actively hold the Senate floor to block legislation and could, in theory, allow for the passage of the bill with a simple 50-vote majority.

Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and Democrats have vowed to oppose the bill.

Others, like Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., have suggested the only way to passage is to tack the legislation to some other must-pass bill, like the reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which Congress is expected to take up next month.

Trump, meanwhile, has been laser-focused on elections ahead of the 2026 midterm elections that will shape the final two years of his presidency. He suggested earlier this year that Republicans should “nationalize” elections, threatened to impose voter-ID requirements by executive order and, on Sunday, said he would not sign any bills that reach his desk until the SAVE America Act is passed.

“It must be done immediately. It supersedes everything else. MUST GO TO THE FRONT OF THE LINE,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Sunday. “I, as President, will not sign other Bills until this is passed.”

He brought up the SAVE America Act on Wednesday during an appearance at a packaging facility in Kentucky, saying “all voters must show voter ID” and calling for an end to mail-in ballots except in limited circumstances.