Senate GOP secures 50 votes for Trump-backed voter ID bill, but filibuster looms
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Senate Republicans now have enough support in their conference to pass Trump-backed voter ID legislation, but a major hurdle remains.
The Saving American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act has the support of 50 Senate Republicans after a pressure campaign by a group of White House and Senate conservatives over the past few weeks.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, led the charge in the upper chamber and stepped up his efforts last week as the bill passed the House.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Senate Republicans have reached a key threshold in their quest to pass voter ID legislation, but the fight over the Senate filibuster still stands in their way. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)
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Lee told Fox News Digital that he was “very happy” with the progress made in increasing support for the legislation and hoped the Senate would move as quickly as possible to consider it.
“I would love to see us return to this issue next week, perhaps the day after the State of the Union address,” Lee said. “I think this would be good timing. But I think it needs to be done as soon as possible.”
This multifaceted campaign, both on social media and behind closed doors in the Senate, was successful, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R.S.D. and received support from many others.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, became the 50th senator to support the bill. This gives Republicans the domestic support they need to advance the legislation procedurally, but only if they are inclined to stand or talk.
Lee and Sens. before leaving Washington, D.C., for a weeklong break last week. Ron Johnson, R-Wis. and Rick Scott, R-Fla. Other supporters, including Trump, described the voter ID proposal and potential ways to convey it to their colleagues.
“Some of our good senators stood up and said, ‘No, we have to fight for this,'” Johnson told Fox News Digital. “I’m with them. We need to fight for this.”
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President Donald Trump went to North Carolina on February 13, 2025, to meet with military officials after the capture of Venezuelan Maduro. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
Still, the effort faces intense resistance from Senate Democrats, who are nearly united in opposition.
The only potential outlier is Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who took issue with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-Pa.) characterization of the bill as “Jim Crow 2.0” but did not say whether he would ultimately support the SAVE America Act.
Despite this possibility, Schumer and most of his team plan to block the legislation.
“We’re not going to let this pass the Senate,” Schumer told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “We are fighting tooth and nail.”
Not every Senate Republican is on board, either. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said she would vote against the measure, while Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., did not sign on as co-sponsors.
One option to bypass Democratic opposition would be to eliminate the filibuster and its 60-vote threshold; Some congressional Republicans argue that the legislation has effectively become a “zombie filibuster” because it can be blocked simply by withdrawing votes rather than keeping the promise.
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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (DY) speaks at a press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on January 30, 2026. (Nathan Posner/Anatolia via Getty Images)
Despite President Donald Trump’s previous push to eliminate the filibuster, the move does not have the votes to succeed among Republicans; It’s a point Thune emphasized last week.
“There are no votes to nuke the bandits, not even close,” Thune said.
This leaves a return to standing or speaking, filibustering, the forerunner of today’s procedural impediment. Under this approach, Senate Democrats would be required to hold their ground and publicly debate their opposition, as senators did for decades before the modern filibuster became standard practice.
The idea appears to be gaining traction among some Republicans, but critics warn it could effectively paralyze the upper chamber for days, weeks or even months, depending on Democrats’ determination.
Lee said many senators he spoke to were open to the idea, while those who were reluctant did not believe it would work.
“I understand why people might have questions about a procedure we’re not familiar with,” Lee said. “That doesn’t mean we don’t have to do it, because we do.”
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Trump, meanwhile, suggested he might take matters into his own hands if Congress fails to pass the RELIEVE America Act.
In a post on Truth Social last week, Trump called the legislation “DON’T MISS THE RE-ELECTION IN THE MIDTERMS AND BEYOND.”
“This is an issue that needs to be fought and fought NOW! If we can’t get this passed by Congress, there are legal reasons why this SCAM should not be allowed,” Trump wrote. “I will submit these in the form of an Executive Order shortly.”
