WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told his Republican conference this week that eliminating the legislative filibuster to advance the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act is off the table — and that the votes simply are not there.
President Donald Trump has pushed for immediate passage of the House-approved voting bill, urging Republicans to scrap the Senate's 60-vote threshold and cancel an upcoming recess to force the legislation through.
Thune pushed back directly. He told reporters Monday that Republicans lack the votes, and reiterated Tuesday that support for gutting the filibuster is "not there."
The math is blunt: Republicans hold 53 Senate seats, seven short of the supermajority needed to overcome a filibuster. Democrats are expected to use that threshold to block the bill. Changing the rules to bypass them would require Republican votes Thune says he does not have.
With the filibuster intact and the Senate heading into recess, the SAVE America Act goes nowhere for now — a hard limit on how far presidential pressure can move a chamber that runs on its own rules.
