Trump’s voting bill hits Senate wall as House GOP eyes budget route
Republicans are weighing a spending-bill workaround for the SAVE America Act, which would add voter ID and proof-of-citizenship rules.
By Deshawn Carter · Sports Writer
4 min read
President Donald Trump’s push to rewrite federal voting rules is running into a hard Senate math problem: the SAVE America Act does not have the 60 votes needed to beat a filibuster, according to NBC News.
Trump has urged Republicans to pass the measure, which he says is needed to protect elections. The bill would require photo identification to vote in federal elections and documentary proof of citizenship to register.
Federal law already bars noncitizens from voting in federal elections, and NBC News reported that such voting is rare. People registering to vote must also swear, under penalty of perjury, that they are citizens and eligible voters.
Trump has called for scrapping the filibuster to move the bill, NBC News reported. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has said Republicans are “not even close” to having the votes to do that.
House GOP looks for a workaround
House Republican leaders are now trying to move pieces of the bill through a $95 billion party-line spending package, NBC News reported. The method, known as reconciliation, can let the majority pass certain tax and spending measures in the Senate without Democratic support.
That route comes with limits. Reconciliation bills must be tied to federal spending or taxes, so the Senate parliamentarian, a nonpartisan official, would decide which parts of the voting bill can stay in the package.
House Republicans released a budget blueprint Wednesday that would give the House Administration Committee $10 billion to carry out parts of the SAVE America Act, according to NBC News. The committee would choose which provisions to attempt through reconciliation.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said after a Wednesday night meeting with Vice President JD Vance and House Republicans that the party would pass “as much of that as possible” into law.
Thune was more guarded Thursday, saying there are “some things you could do” through reconciliation, including possible grants to states, while questioning whether that would satisfy lawmakers seeking the full bill.
The budget blueprint must be approved by both the House and Senate before Republicans can begin work on the final reconciliation package.
What the bill would do
The House passed the earlier Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, known as the SAVE Act, last year, but it stalled in the Senate. On Feb. 11, the House approved a broader version, the SAVE America Act, in a 218-213 vote at Trump’s urging, NBC News reported.
- The earlier SAVE Act required documentary proof of citizenship to register for federal elections.
- It also required states to create a process to remove noncitizens from voter rolls using the federal SAVE database.
- The newer SAVE America Act adds a photo ID requirement for federal voting.
Democrats and some Republicans oppose the measures. Critics say millions of people lack passports or birth certificates and could lose access to the ballot because of proof-of-citizenship rules, according to NBC News.
Trump’s claims go beyond the text
NBC News reported that Trump has described the bill as doing things that the current version does not do.
In a Fourth of July speech, Trump said the bill would allow “no mail-in ballots except for illness, disability, military deployment, or travel.” The bill does not ban mail-in ballots, according to NBC News. It would add requirements for people seeking mail-in ballots, including in-person presentation of proof of citizenship for applicants using a mail voter registration form.
Trump also posted on Truth Social last month that the “Full version” included provisions on women’s sports and gender transition surgeries for children. NBC News reported that the bill contains no provisions on those subjects.
November timing is disputed
Supporters, including Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, say Congress would need to pass the bill by early August for it to take effect before November’s midterm elections, NBC News reported.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who is retiring at the end of his term and opposes the bill, told reporters Wednesday that implementation before the midterms is impossible. He said more than 10,000 government entities would have to carry out the changes and warned that claiming the system could be ready by November risks undermining confidence in elections.
This story draws on original reporting from NBC News.