Despite Trump’s SOTU and MAGA pressure, Sen. Maj. Leader Thune in no hurry to change filibuster, vote on SAVE America Act

In the wake of President Donald Trump’s calls on the Senate to pass the SAVE America Act during the State of the Union, conservative activists and the bill’s backers have redoubled their pressure campaign on Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.).

But speaking with reporters Wednesday, Thune poured cold water on far-right activists’ hopes that he would quickly change the filibuster rules — the only realistic path to getting the bill passed a Democratic blockade.

“There isn’t support for doing that at this point,” he said.

In an interview with Fox News earlier in the day, Thune said “we will put Democrats on the record,” on the bill, which would require voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship (DPOC) — like a U.S. passport or birth certificate — when they register to vote and show photo identification when they cast a ballot. It also would require states to give the U.S. attorney general access to their voter registration rolls, and mandate monthly purges of those rolls.

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“We are right now in the middle of a government shutdown — we’ve got to try and get the government opened up first — but in due time, we will get that up on the floor,” Thune added. “We will have a vote on it.”

While some SAVE America Act backers applauded the comments on social media — Scott Presler called it “a great start” — others quickly noted that bringing a vote on the bill, which passed the House earlier this month and has 50 GOP consponsors, doesn’t have enough support to clear a filibuster.

“No. It is not a great start,” Cleta Mitchell, an anti-voting activist and founder of the Election Integrity Network, tweeted in response. “If [Leader] Thune files cloture it is for the purpose of intentionally killing the SAVE America Act. For Pete’s sake don’t let him get away with doing that!”

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) has repeatedly called on Thune to end the “zombie” filibuster and replace it with the talking filibuster, which would end debate on a bill once its opponents surrendered the floor rather than requiring 60 votes to invoke cloture.

It’s unclear when a vote on the SAVE America Act would be held.

A source familiar with Thune’s thinking told Democracy Docket there is no exact time line for bringing the bill to a vote, adding that the talking filibuster — which would allow Democrats to make unlimited amendments and make two speeches per question — could drag on for months.

The last time the Senate used a talking filibuster was in 1964, when conservative southern Democrats fought off a vote on the Civil Rights Act for 60 days until finally a cloture vote passed to end debate. A similar effort by Democrats today to stave off the SAVE America Act would occupy the Senate into the August recess. After that, the Senate is currently scheduled to return for just two weeks in September before adjourning to accommodate campaigning ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Thune has reportedly told Senate Republicans that finalizing an appropriations deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which is currently partially shutdown, he would like to move next on a bipartisan housing measure that advanced out of committee last year — not the SAVE America Act.

Speaking with Hill reporters Wednesday after his Fox interview, Thune clarified that he is in no rush to vote on the elections bill or ready to ensure an outcome.

“At some point we’ll get it up on the floor and get it up for a vote,” he said. “I just can’t guarantee an outcome or a result, which is — obviously — always going to be subject to where the votes are.”

“So we’ll see about the process,” Thune added. “We have a lot of other stuff to do, which I’ve pointed out many times.”

Thune then again reiterated that the GOP caucus was divided on Lee’s demands to scrap the current filibuster procedure.

“The talking filibuster issue is one on which there is not certainly a unified Republican conference, and there would have to be,” Thune said. “If you go down that path, you’re talking about the need to table what are going to be numerous amendments and an ability to keep 50 Republicans unified, pretty much on every single vote. And there’s just not, there isn’t support for doing that at this point.”