I'd love to tell you that I think we can get the SAVE America Act passed. I really would. There's no reason it shouldn't pass easily. Polls have consistently shown that significant majorities of the public, transcending party and race, support the SAVE America Act. And why shouldn't they? It's common sense to require proof of citizenship to register to vote and a photo ID to vote. The only people who are against the SAVE America Act are Democrats in Congress.
The House already did its job. It passed the SAVE America Act months ago. Then it hit the Senate, where Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) admitted the votes simply weren't there. So senators packed up and went home for the entire month of August without lifting a finger to fix that. With the Senate now in recess and midterms bearing down, the odds of anything happening before voters head to the polls in November are somewhere between slim and none.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), the bill's sponsor, says there's a plan. He told the Daily Signal that Trump handed Senate Republicans "pre-recess assignments," with an understanding that voter ID would come roaring back in September as part of Reconciliation 3.0. "Earlier this month, President Trump encouraged Senate Republicans to get the government funded and Todd Blanche confirmed as attorney general on the understanding that we would resume the fight for voter ID in Reconciliation 3.0 this September, and that's what I intend to do," Lee said. He added that "the president reaffirmed that election security remains his top priority, as it is the priority of millions of American citizens, and we must deliver for them."
That's great. But it's just words until the bill actually passes.
I mean, we’ve heard Lee tell us before that there was still hope. I want to believe him. I’m trying to still believe. But, with midterms creeping closer by the day, and the fundamental problems that have prevented the SAVE America Act from advancing haven’t changed. "Every American should be asking why Democrats are fighting against the SAVE America Act which includes commonsense election integrity measures, like Voter ID, that are strongly supported by the vast majority of Americans,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Lauren Bis said. “This legislation will make sure Americans, and Americans only, decide our elections."
Yeah, we know.
ICYMI: Trump’s Latest Kennedy Center Move Has the Left in a Full-Blown Meltdown
Ken Cuccinelli, the former Virginia attorney general who now leads the Election Transparency Initiative, thinks Trump has more juice here than anyone else in Washington. "Nobody can put more pressure on them than he can," Cuccinelli said. "It's really a question of what he's willing to do for it. Are you willing to start vetoing things that you know they want? And that's in front of an election as well. That throws a whole other level of complication in there."
Republicans, to their credit or their detriment depending on how you look at it, won't nuke the filibuster to force this through. I used to be against nuking the filibuster, but changed my mind. Why? Because the SAVE America Act is too important to let it die, and we all know that Democrats will nuke it the second it's convenient for them. Nobody on the right wants to admit it changes the calculation.
Cuccinelli calls this moment "now or never," warning that Congress is likely to grow less conservative after the midterms no matter how things break. "We'll see what he's willing to do, and I hope he's willing to push," he said. "These folks need to be pushed." He thinks the realistic path forward is attaching the SAVE Act's voter ID requirement and its mail-in voting ban to a must-pass bill, calling those two provisions "far and away the most important aspects" of the legislation and adding that "everything else falls away substantially in significance."
He's probably right.
I want to believe there's still a chance for the SAVE America Act. I really do. But getting there likely means Republicans have to hold the House and the Senate in November first, and then we need a miracle.
