Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) on Sunday urged his Republican colleagues to embrace procedural grit and push the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act through the Senate by sheer endurance, even as Majority Leader John Thune concedes the bill lacks the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster.
Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Lee argued that the GOP should put the voter ID measure on the floor and refuse to leave until it passes—staying through weekends and recesses if necessary. “We haven’t tried what I believe it takes to get the SAVE America Act passed, which is to put it on the floor and to say we’re going to debate this for weeks,” Lee said.
The House approved the bill in February along party lines, but it has stalled in the Senate. President Trump has made the legislation a top priority, even pausing the nomination of Jay Clayton to lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and calling on Senate Republicans to scrap the 60-vote threshold to force it through.
Lee acknowledged that Republicans are currently about 10 votes short of the cloture threshold needed to end debate. But he suggested that prolonged floor action could wear down Democratic opposition. “The other way is to exhaust the other side, to continue to debate the bill until it passes,” he said, adding that this tactic “needs to be used from time to time in situations like this one.”
Thune, however, has already poured cold water on that strategy. Last week, he stated flatly that there are not enough votes to bypass a filibuster. Trump’s call to nuke the legislative filibuster—the supermajority requirement that has long defined the Senate—has gained little traction among Republicans, many of whom view it as an institutional safeguard.
Complicating matters, Trump has also demanded that the SAVE Act be paired with reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a key spy authority that expired earlier this month. Thune has ruled out that approach. Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) called the pairing “a Hail Mary” and said Trump “doesn’t seem to understand the Senate.”
The SAVE America Act would require all Americans to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote and to present ID at the polls. Democrats argue the measure would disenfranchise married women, college students, and voters of color, and they point to data showing that noncitizen voting is already extremely rare. A recent poll suggests a majority of Americans now doubt the promise of the American dream, a sentiment that could fuel broader skepticism about election integrity claims.
Lee remains undeterred. “If we put it on the floor tomorrow and we announce that we’re going to debate it until it passes, I’m confident that we can get there,” he said. Whether that confidence is shared by enough of his colleagues—or by the voters watching this procedural drama—remains an open question.
