GOP tempers flare over how to pass SAVE America Act

Tempers are starting to boil within the Senate Republican Conference as disagreements arise over how to handle President Trump’s No. 1 legislative priority, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act, which Trump wants to push through the Senate despite staunch Democratic opposition.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), a leading proponent of the bill, angered some colleagues this week by suggesting on social media that Republican senators who don’t want to force Democrats to wage a “talking filibuster” to oppose the legislation should be ousted from the Senate.

“If your senators don’t support using the talking filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act, you might need to replace them,” Lee posted on the social platform X.

That ticked off some Republican senators, according to Senate GOP sources.

One Republican senator said the response to Lee’s post was “not very favorable.”

The squabble reflects rising tensions over how to handle the bill amid intense pressure from Trump to add language to ban no-excuse mail-in voting and to ram it through the chamber even though no Democrats support it.

The Senate voted 51-48 to advance the measure, despite the opposition of Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), the only Republican to vote “no.”

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who said last week he would vote against proceeding with the bill because he didn’t see a viable endgame for passing the legislation, missed Tuesday’s vote because of a travel delay.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) voted to begin debate on the legislation even though he has told GOP colleagues privately that he doesn’t support the measure. He voted to start the debate as a courtesy to the Senate GOP leadership.

Republicans mainly agree on the core elements of the House-passed bill, such as the requirements that people registering to vote need to show documented proof of citizenship to register and that people need to show proper identification to vote.

But there are deep disagreements among Republicans over what steps to take next after the Senate voted largely along party lines to proceed on the legislation.

Trump has said he will not sign any legislation, except for funding that ends the Department of Homeland Security shutdown, until the SAVE America Act is passed.

Conservatives, led by Lee, continue to push the idea of forcing Democrats to wage a talking filibuster, which would require them to hold the floor with continuous debate, to block the bill. Lee hopes that weeks of continued debate over the SAVE America Act will exhaust Democrats and open the path for Republicans to pass the measure with a simple-majority vote.

Lee has talked about the need for a lengthy floor debate similar to the two-month Senate debate that preceded the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Other conservatives have endorsed the idea of a long and drawn-out debate on the legislation.

“What I’ve been advising and recommending, and I think there’s a lot of support in the conference is get on the bill … and then use the Senate the way it’s intended to be used, use the amendment process to continue to improve the bill to help get more votes,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) on Tuesday floated the idea of attaching the SAVE America Act to a must-pass bill, such as reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act’s (FISA) Section 702 surveillance authority.

“I think what we have to do is we have to look at all the different ways we can pass it. The best would be we get 60 votes, right? Or is there some other must-pass bill we could do? We just got to keep working to try to get this passed,” he said.

Asked about attaching it to the FISA reauthorization, Scott said, “I’m open to any of them.”

But a large chunk of the caucus thinks that strategy is completely unrealistic.

Murkowski on Tuesday argued the debate over the bill will eat up valuable Senate floor time only to get blocked in the end by a Democratic filibuster.

“My concern is, it’s not only going to get a single Democratic vote, but it’s a measure that doesn’t really have a chance of passing,” Murkowski said. “It doesn’t have a chance of becoming law. As we all know around here, floor time is probably the most valuable commodity that we have.”

She said the Senate could spend its time on more pressing issues, such as responding to rising energy prices due to the military conflict in Iran.

Other Republicans have rejected the idea of attaching the SAVE America Act to legislation extending FISA surveillance authorities, which will expire on April 20.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told reporters last week that he supports the extension and doesn’t want to imperil that by adding controversial legislation.

“I don’t think we need to complicate it,” he said.

Republicans from rural states are rebelling at Trump’s demand to strengthen the bill by banning mail-in voting without reasons such as serious illness, disability, military duty or foreign travel.

GOP senators vented their frustration at a Senate Republican lunch meeting over an amendment sponsored by Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) that would implement Trump’s call to abolish no-excuse absentee voting.

“Eric Schmitt was in the crosshairs,” said a Republican senator, characterizing the argument over mail-in ballots at the Tuesday lunch. “What the president wants is not something that we can agreement in the conference on, as it relates to mail-in balloting.

“There are a lot of members, particularly on mail-in balloting, who think this is going to be really bad for them in their states,” the lawmaker added. “There was no resolution coming from the lunch. In fact, it was more raucous than usual.”

Schmitt’s amendment would also ban transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports and prohibit gender transition surgeries for minors, two other elements that Trump demanded be added to the SAVE America Act.

Republicans from rural states like Montana argue that no-excuse mail-in voting is popular at home and hasn’t been linked to significant fraud. They argue that it would impose a hardship on voters living in remote areas to drive miles to vote in person, especially in November when snowstorms can pose serious obstacles.

“Sen. [Steve] Daines [R-Mont.] and I spoke up lunch today pretty vocally,” said Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.) when asked about the proposal to further restrict mail-in voting. “We are 100 percent about securing our elections, and we absolutely believe in most of the SAVE Act, but the reality is in a state like Montana, like Alaska, like other rural states, most of our people vote by mail. And they like it, and they trust it.

“We’re working as we speak on language to make sure we clarify it,” he said.

He said that creating “hardship exemptions” to allow people in rural areas to vote by mail could be a compromise.

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