Despite pressure from Trump, Thune won't bring SAVE Act to a vote in senate

Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

Senate majority leader John Thune suggested he wouldn't bring the SAVE Act, passed by the House of Representatives last month, up for a vote in the Senate. 

"We don't have the votes either to proceed, get on a talking filibuster, nor to sustain it if we got on it," Thune told reporters on Capitol Hill Tuesday. "That is just a function of math, and there isn't anything I can do about that," he added. Thune acknowledged Trump's "passion to see this issue addressed," but insisted the measure doesn't have the 60 votes needed to pass.

Thune's statement comes in the wake of Trump's ultimatum over the weekend in which the president demanded passage of the Save Act must be prioritized. "I, as President, will not sign other Bills until this is passed," Trump said in a social media post on Sunday. The SAVE Act would require voters to provide proof of citizenship in order to register to vote and identification at the polls in order to vote. In addition, the SAVE Act would codify Trump's 2025 executive order banning men and boys from competing in women's and girls sports, as well as make it illegal for medical providers to perform transgender surgeries on children. 

Democrats have panned the proposed legislation saying that it would disenfranchise black and Latino voters, although recent polling shows more than 80% of white and Latino voters support voter ID laws, and 76% of black voters support such measures. Some polls have found nearly 85% of Americans support implementing voter ID laws.

Thune has also suggested that support for the SAVE Act is inorganic and the result of a "paid influencer ecosystem," comments that have drawn harsh criticism from conservatives and others who back the bill, including Elon Musk, who has been vocal on X about his support for the SAVE Act. 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed the impasse during her press briefing on Tuesday, telling reporters the proposed legislation is "overwhelmingly popular" among the broad electorate because the provisions are "rooted in common sense."  Below, watch Leavitt's remarks from the press briefing.