Senate Republicans are giving up for now on passing the SAVE America Act — a sweeping package of new restrictions on voting that President Donald Trump proclaimed should be the Senate's one and only priority just weeks ago.
The legislation would impose new voter ID and proof of citizenship requirements on voters in every state, and would also require all state voting rolls to be checked against a Homeland Security database infamous for falsely flagging citizens as noncitizens. Studies have shown that nationally, these policies would suppress votes in both parties equally — but could substantially benefit Republicans in certain states, like Nevada and New Mexico.
The legislation, however, has been unable to overcome a Democratic filibuster, and for now at least, Senate Republicans aren't willing to tear down Senate rules just to pass it, Punchbowl News reported.
"Now, even the bill’s most outspoken GOP supporters are acknowledging that another drawn-out Senate floor debate would be a futile exercise," said the report. "But the Senate’s tabling of SAVE will only anger the party’s base and intensify the long-shot push to scrap the filibuster. This issue has become a major point of contention between President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader John Thune."
Meanwhile, per the report, "The most recent SAVE-related vote, which occurred during a vote-a-rama last month, fell just short of 50 votes. To Senate GOP leaders, that alone is a good enough reason to move on. Many of the most vocal SAVE America Act supporters now agree, pointing to the rejected vote-a-rama amendment as proof they need a new strategy."
For weeks, Trump was putting maximum pressure on the party to get the bill onto his desk by any means necessary, even at one point boycotting any other legislation until it passed. However, he now appears to be preparing for its failure, having written an executive order that tries to implement at least some parts of it by presidential fiat.