Senate Majority Leader John Thune utterly failed to pass the SAVE America Act and is now claiming that it wouldn’t have mattered anyway.
The South Dakota Republican has been the target of intense criticism from MAGA conservatives for his inability to advance the election integrity bill that would require photo identification to vote, legislation that has been stalled in the Senate for months despite insistence from President Donald J. Trump that it be passed before the midterms.
Now with the pivotal elections just over a month away, Thune appeared on Fox News, where he suggested that the SAVE America Act would have made little difference amid rising public anger over Trump’s war on Iran and skyrocketing prices for gasoline and diesel.
(Video: Fox News)
On Monday’s edition of “America’s Newsroom,” the Senate leader was asked if closing the deal on the legislation could have made a difference for the GOP, which is predicted to be punished at the polls, as history has shown typically happens in midterm elections for the party in control of the White House, even in better times.
“For those who were very frustrated that the SAVE America Act didn’t get passed, at this moment…had you had the number that you need in order to pass that, would that had materially changed anything that you’re seeing right now in any of these races?” Dana Perino asked.
“Well right now, the races are, it’s more about- it’s, you know, it is affordability issues,” Thune responded.
“It’s the price of diesel in places like Iowa and Kansas and Nebraska and the Midwest, Minnesota,” he continued. “And so, I think that’s the issue, and what’s happening in Iran is sort of, sort of trumped everything else that’s going on.”
“It would’ve been great to pass the SAVE America Act, but it’s a great issue for our candidates to run on, because every Democrat block voted against it,” Thune added, trying to polish the turd by suggesting that the failure to pass it could actually help GOP candidates in their midterm elections.
“We’ve had it up on the floor now six different times in different variations, and every single Democrat, every single time on six occasions, has voted against it,” he said. “So I think it’s an issue that our candidates can use on the campaign trail and define their opponents as being some – being against something that’s an 80 percent issue with the American people.
Thune has also been unable – or unwilling – to eliminate the filibuster despite Trump’s calls for him to do it or watch the Democrats nuke the parliamentary procedure the minute that they regain power.
At a July rally in Georgia, Trump urged supporters to call Thune and apply pressure to him to get cracking on passing the SAVE America Act.
.@POTUS: “We have to pass the SAVE America Act to defend American Elections… We’re not going to take this any longer… Right now, Congress is working to get as much of our plan as possible into the budget bill… everybody call John Thune at the Senate… and tell him to get… pic.twitter.com/uBzhGziRSm
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 22, 2026
“Instead of pointing the finger at Republicans, they might think about going after the people who are stopping it on the floor, which is the Democrats,” a testy Thune said at the time. “And if there are Republicans they think are gettable, get on the phone.”
More than two months later, he is still making excuses.
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