{"id":616616,"date":"2026-06-11T02:10:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T02:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=616616"},"modified":"2026-06-11T02:10:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T02:10:00","slug":"the-save-america-act-hits-a-milestone-does-it-have-momentum-now-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=616616","title":{"rendered":"The SAVE America Act Hits A Milestone, Does It Have Momentum Now?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The SAVE America Act Hits A Milestone, Does It Have Momentum Now?<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The SAVE America Act remains in limbo, but it achieved a critical milestone during a late-night vote-a-rama to advance the GOP\u2019s $70 billion immigration enforcement package, when Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) switched her vote<\/a>.<\/strong> That means the only thing preventing it from becoming law is the 60-vote threshold in the Senate.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The legislation, formally titled the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility Act, would require proof of U.S. citizenship at voter registration and a valid photo ID to cast a ballot in federal elections. It cleared the House months ago and has sat in the Senate since, caught between a Republican majority that supports it and a 60-vote cloture threshold that has become its ceiling.<\/p>\n

Despite the filibuster standing in its way, reports suggest that meeting the 50-vote threshold to pass has given the legislation new momentum.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The path to 50 came through Sen. Mike Lee’s (R-Utah) amendment, which used the bill’s original, unmodified form as passed by the House. An earlier attempt by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to attach a modified version that included additional provisions, such as barring men from competing in women’s sports, fell short when four Republicans defected. Sens. Collins, Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) all voted against the Graham version. Collins switched her vote on Lee’s amendment and provided the crucial 50th yes vote.<\/p>\n

\u201c51 votes for the SAVE America Act during tonight\u2019s budget reconciliation vote-a-rama,\u201d <\/em>Lee said in a post on X during the session.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat means that but for the Zombie Filibuster, the House-passed SAVE America Act would now be on its way to the White House for President Trump\u2019s signature.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The Zombie Filibuster he references is the modern mutation of a once-demanding procedural tool that required senators to physically hold the floor with hours of continuous speech. Today, any senator can invoke it with a single objection; legislation dies unless it clears 60 votes, and no one has to say a word.<\/p>\n

Lee and a bloc of conservatives have pressed Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) to force a talking filibuster, requiring Democrats to hold the floor continuously until they run out of steam and the bill advances by a simple majority. However, Thune has so far declined.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thune\u2019s concern is that a sustained floor fight and a flood of Democratic amendments could fracture the Republican conference or cause collateral damage to other pieces of Trump’s agenda. It is a calculated bet that the bill’s supporters find increasingly difficult to accept.<\/p>\n

The filibuster has taken a huge toll on the productivity of the U.S. Senate. Congress is on pace to enact less legislation in this two-year session than at any point since Barack Obama’s presidency. According to GovTrack, just 97 bills<\/a> became law across the two most recent Republican-controlled Congresses, compared to 274 during the 118th Congress. The last time the number sank this low was the 112th Congress.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet, the battle inside the chamber bears almost no relationship to where the country stands on the SAVE America Act. A Harvard-Harris poll<\/a> from earlier this year found broad public support for the SAVE America Act, with 71% of Americans supporting the legislation, including 69% of independents and even 50% of Democrats. Support for its key provisions is even stronger: 81% favor requiring voter ID, 75% support proof of citizenship to vote, and 80% want states to remove non-citizens from voter rolls. Perhaps most striking, 85% of Americans\u2014including 84% of independents and 82% of Democrats\u2014agree that only U.S. citizens should be allowed to vote in federal elections. Overall, 60% view the bill as a commonsense measure to prevent fraud and safeguard election integrity.<\/p>\n

Trump has directed his frustration at Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth Macdonough, who ruled the SAVE America Act ineligible for inclusion in the GOP’s $70 billion immigration enforcement package under the Byrd Rule<\/strong>, which governs what legislation qualifies for budget reconciliation at a 50-vote threshold.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump has called on Thune to remove her.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Just the other night, as an example, she ruled against us on a proposal that would have easily been approved, and should have been, by anyone else,” Trump posted. He followed with a sharper message on Truth Social: “We have every right to change her, and should do so, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump wrote<\/a>, adding, “As long as she’s there, we will never get our desperately needed, SAVE AMERICA ACT, approved, and put into full force and effect!”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Thune dismissed the pressure as routine.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“That’s not a new request, as you all know,” Thune said of Trump’s demand, “and as is typically the case, the parliamentarian, the rulings break both ways. And, you know, we lose a few, we win a few, but that’s been true when Democrats have been in the majority, too.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Collins, who provided the decisive 50th vote on Lee’s amendment, has previously stated<\/a> she will not support eliminating the filibuster, and it\u2019s unlikely she\u2019ll change her mind on that with her facing a tough reelection bid this year.<\/strong> But reaching the 50-vote threshold to pass the upper chamber is a modest victory that could change the debate going forward.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nWed, 06\/10\/2026 – 22:10<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The SAVE America Act Hits A Milestone, Does It Have Momentum Now? The SAVE America Act remains in limbo, but it achieved a critical milestone during a late-night vote-a-rama to advance the GOP\u2019s $70 billion immigration enforcement package, when Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) switched her vote. That means the only thing preventing it from becoming… Continue reading The SAVE America Act Hits A Milestone, Does It Have Momentum Now?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":616601,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,19,10,21,12,11,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-616616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cancel-culture","category-censorship","category-civil-liberties","category-election-integrity","category-equal-justice","category-free-speech","category-religious-freedom","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=616616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/616601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=616616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=616616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=616616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}