Thune: ‘The votes currently aren’t there’ to get rid of filibuster, pass Save America Act

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said Tuesday his conference does not have enough votes to bypass the filibuster to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act.

“The only way you can get … this done is to nuke the legislative filibuster, and that is not something that we have anywhere close to the votes to do,” Thune told host Bret Baier on Fox News’s “Special Report.”

President Trump has made the SAVE America Act one of his top legislative priorities for months and has called on GOP senators to scrap the regular filibuster — the 60-vote threshold to pass most legislation in the upper chamber — in order to pass it.

The SAVE America Act proposes requiring Americans to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. The House passed the bill in February, but it has stalled in the Senate over the unwillingness from some Republicans to change filibuster rules.

In recent days, Trump has tied the SAVE America Act to another of his priorities, the extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

The latter provision, which provides the federal government with the ability to conduct warrantless surveillance of foreign nationals, lapsed last week amid outrage from Democrats about Trump tapping Bill Pulte to serve as acting director of national intelligence.

The president said Wednesday he is pausing the confirmation process for federal prosecutor Jay Clayton’s nomination to be the director until Congress approves FISA and the voting bill. Thune’s Fox News interview occurred before Trump’s announcement.

“I will not approve FISA without THE SAVE AMERICA ACT going along with it,” Trump wrote Wednesday on Truth Social.

While Thune acknowledged on Tuesday that the president is “passionate” about the bill, Republicans “are bound by arithmetic” in the Senate.

“The votes currently aren’t there,” the South Dakota Republican added.

As for attaching the SAVE America Act to FISA, Thune argued doing so would “tank” the latter measure. Democrats have expressed unified opposition to the SAVE America Act, while expressing an openness to extending the country’s warrantless surveillance powers over foreign nationals.