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Thune tells Hannity his ‘side of the story’ on SAVE Act, so now what?

July 28, 2026 | | Print Article

Senate Majority Leader John Thune appeared doubtful on Monday that cancelling the Senate August recess to debate and vote on the SAVE America Act would serve any valid purpose.

“If I thought there was a path for getting a result, I’m all for it,” he said on the Senate floor this Monday, according to The Hill.

Why the hesitancy? Because the Senate has already spent an inordinate amount of time debating and voting on the bill to no avail, according to him.

“I’m a cosponsor of the SAVE Act. We voted on it two, three, four, five times already,” Thune noted. “We had it up on the floor for an extended period of time. Show me how this ends. What’s the picture of victory at the end?”

“If somebody can show me how we get an outcome, how we get a result, how we get an answer to this, I’m all for it. But if we’re going to be sitting here in endless quorum calls, I don’t know if that’s in anybody’s best interest,” he added.

Thune also pointed out that it’s a tough election year and that his colleagues desperately need to return home to campaign.

His remarks came after President Donald Trump demanded that the Senate leader keep the upper congressional chamber in session so it can end the filibuster and pass the SAVE America Act:

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Appearing on Fox News’ “Hannity” later Monday evening, Thune once again stressed that the president’s efforts to persuade the Senate to eliminate the filibuster and pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act wouldn’t work.

“We don’t [have the votes],” he bluntly said. “I’ve had this conversation with the president many times, I think as you know. I actually suggested at one point that they — his team — come up and sit down and visit with some of my colleagues.”

“So they came up, about twenty Republican senators, and fifteen were a no on getting rid of the filibuster. The votes aren’t there to do it. I know [Trump] thinks he can persuade people, but there are a lot of folks who are very — this is a hard position for a lot of Senate Republicans,” he added.

With 15 GOP senators voting “no,” the Senate would stand zero chance of passing the bill, especially given the staunch Democrat opposition.

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“All Senate Democrats have expressed opposition to the SAVE America Act,” according to USA Today.

The fear by Republicans is that were they to kill the filibuster now, Democrats would use the extra power to destroy the country if they ever gained control of the White House, House, and Senate again.

The president views things differently.

“Whichever Party Terminates the Filibuster FIRST will be the Party that survives and thrives,” he alleged in an X post published Monday afternoon. “If the Dumocrats win this race, however, America will rapidly become nothing more than a Third World Nation!”

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If passed and signed into law, the SAVE America Act would force would-be voters to first show proof of citizenship to register to vote and then show photo ID when actually voting. The law would also drastically limit mail-in voting.

The only other option to get the bill passed, aside from killing the filibuster, would be through reconciliation.

“In a push to bypass a Senate filibuster, House Republicans on July 22 approved a $95 billion budget framework backed by House Speaker Mike Johnson that includes elements of the SAVE America Act,” USA Today notes. “Johnson’s goal is to pass the framework through a budget process called reconciliation, which would require a simple majority in the Senate.”

Vivek Saxena
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