WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has been singularly focused on pressuring congressional Republicans to pass the SAVE America Act, a bill he claims is needed to secure elections.Subscribe to read this story ad-freeGet unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Despite pressure from the president as well as several House and Senate Republicans — and weeks spent debating the bill on the Senate floor — it lacks the necessary support to clear the 60-vote filibuster threshold in the upper chamber.Trump has called for eliminating the filibuster altogether to pass the legislation, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has said his caucus is “not even close” to having the votes to do that.Trump continues to pressure Republicans to pass the bill, and House Republican leaders are looking for new ways to force the bill through after a group of conservatives began holding up all other floor action.The bill would overhaul federal elections by requiring voter ID at the polls and proof of citizenship to register to vote.It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections, and the practice occurs rarely.
Federal law requires that voters registering to vote swear under penalty of perjury that they are citizens and eligible to vote.The House Republican PlanHouse Republicans plan to pass components of the SAVE America Act through a $95 billion party-line spending bill they started work on on Wednesday.The process, known as reconciliation, allows Republicans to bypass the Senate filibuster and pass legislation without any Democratic support.This would be the third reconciliation bill since Trump returned to office last year.There’s one problem: Reconciliation bills have to be related to taxes and spending.
So not all provisions of the SAVE America Act can pass this way.The Senate’s nonpartisan referee, known as the parliamentarian, will decide which provisions qualify.House Republicans on Wednesday released the budget bluepri...