Every two years, all members of the U.S. House of Representatives and one-third of the Senators are up for re-election. Also known as “midterm elections,” November’s contest will determine which party will drive the agenda for the next two years. Republicans have enjoyed slim majorities in both the House and Senate chambers over the last year. Despite their majority being small, they have been able to enact important policies such as tax cuts for working families, removing fraud and waste from the federal government, and securing our borders. The outcome of the November midterms is key to continuing conservative success. But leftist Democrats want to tip the elections by refusing to ensure that only citizens vote. Thankfully, Congress has a solution to ensure fair elections in the Fall.
It is no surprise that the Biden administration’s open border policies and blatant disrespect for current law would negatively affect the integrity of our elections. With Republicans sounding the alarm, several states began looking into their voter rolls. Virginia election officials purged 6,000 noncitizens off of voter rolls in 2024 and a total of 11,000 noncitizens over the past decade. One year later, Texas found nearly 3,000 noncitizens on their rolls. This month, the Department of Justice announced an investigation into Macomb County, Michigan because 239 illegal immigrants had been found in a jury pool over four months. Fourteen of those noncitizens had been registered to vote with one voting illegally several times already.
Representative Chip Roy (R-TX) has been a leader on this issue for years. After previous iterations, Rep. Roy first introduced the SAVE Act (H.R. 8281) in 2024. This was a simple bill that strengthened the current law that states only American citizens can vote in federal elections. The “Motor Voter” law allows anyone who receives a driver’s license to be registered to vote at the same time. But non-citizens, including legal permanent residents and green card holders as well as illegal aliens, can and do get driver’s licenses and are not required to show proof of citizenship to register to vote. The SAVE Act would require proof of citizenship for voter registration, allow states access to federal databases to clean up their voter rolls, and give citizens the ability to take civil action against their state if they suspect inappropriate activity. The bill was successfully passed by the House last year but stalled in the Senate.
Knowing the importance of voter integrity, the House Republicans passed a new version of the SAVE Act. The SAVE America Act (H.R. 7296/S. 3752) includes all of the language of the SAVE Act and adds a mandatory requirement of presenting photo identification at the voting booth. Rep. Roy and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), who offered a Senate companion bill, released a joint statement:
The SAVE America Act makes our original SAVE Act better. President Trump rightly believes we should include Voter ID in this bill as we make a renewed push to secure our elections and protect the rights of American voters. By requiring Voter ID and proof-of-citizenship, the SAVE America Act will ensure that our federal elections are decided by U.S. citizens — and U.S. citizens alone.
Democrats spun wild narratives about these bills. They have claimed that minorities and people with disabilities are less likely to have photo identification and are unable to obtain them. They also claim that married women will have difficulty registering to vote because their married name may not match their birth certificate. Liberals have said these actions are a “poll tax” and would suppress voter turnout, especially for Democrats. These assertions are absurd for many reasons.
First, it is very hard to function in today’s world without photo identification. Identification is necessary to travel, open a bank account, receive federal and state welfare benefits, and to purchase liquor and certain pharmaceuticals. Minorities and those with disabilities need identification just like everyone else and have no problems obtaining them. Married women have long overcome the task of changing their maiden names on official identification cards. They simply have to provide a marriage certificate and an alternate form of identification (such as a driver’s license or passport) to register to vote.
A majority of Americans support pulling out their ID at the polls. A Pew Research study found that over 80% of Americans favor showing a photo ID to vote in federal elections. Even Democrat Senator John Fetterman (PA-D) has voiced support for voter ID saying, “it’s not a radical idea for Americans to show your ID to vote.” Other Democrats, however, are threatening to shut down the government or stall bills in the Senate over an issue that their constituents want to see passed.
The House passed the SAVE America Act on February 11th by a vote of 218-213. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) was the lone Democrat to cross the aisle and join all Republicans in supporting the bill. It is now up to the Senate to act. There are currently 44 cosponsors in the Senate
Because the Democrats will not agree to hold a vote on the SAVE America Act, Senator Lee and others are encouraging Majority Leader Thune to force Democrats to filibuster the bill. Under the Senate rules, debate on almost all legislation is unlimited. But in practice, the Senators normally agree by unanimous consent to put limits on debate. When unanimous consent is not possible, the Majority Leader will “file a cloture petition” — a procedure that limits debate but requires 60 votes to pass, and ends the threat of a filibuster.
Since Republicans do not have 60 votes to end debate on the SAVE America Act, conservatives are calling for Thune to force the Democrats into a “talking” or real filibuster. Democrats will have to debate the merits of the bill under strict rules until every Senator has spoken twice on the legislation and exhausted all procedural delays. This is possible to do under the current rules and is not the same as eliminating the filibuster (which would be very dangerous and ill-advised). But it will take discipline, dedication, and days, even weeks, to reach the end. If Senate Republicans do decide to force a talking filibuster, the final vote needed will only be 51 for passage – something that is possible to do. Rachel Bovard, formerly of the Senate Steering Committee, describes the process in her article, Senate GOP Can Fix Elections, Boost Trump, And Wreck Dems With The SAVE Act, available here.
Eagle Forum is supporting the bill and has notified members of Congress that we will add it to our Congressional Scorecard. We believe that forcing the Democrats to filibuster the bill is the only way to pass this important legislation. Please contact your Senators through our alert system here and encourage them to call up and pass the SAVE America Act and to require Democrats to actually engage in a talking filibuster of the bill! We will keep you updated through our emails and alerts on the actions taken by our lawmakers to ensure safe and fair elections for the American people.