Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said the SAVE America Act, President Trump’s top legislative priority, is “dead” on Capitol Hill because there is not enough time to implement the voting restrictions before the November 3 midterm election—even if Senate Republicans can muster the 60 votes needed to pass it, which appears unlikely.
“Unless they do the work to get to the 60 votes, they know it’s dead, and so all this is theater,” Tillis told The News & Observer, repeating arguments he has made in Washington calling on GOP colleagues to move on to other priorities.
The legislation would require proof of citizenship for voter registration and photo identification at the ballot box. Even if passed, Tillis noted, there is no realistic path to implementation before voters head to the polls. He pointed to his own experience: when North Carolina implemented voter ID requirements, it took a full year to put everything in place with adequate funding.
“Honestly, here in North Carolina, or in virtually any state, the ability, if we go back to when we implemented voter ID in North Carolina, it took a year to get everything in place with adequate funding,” Tillis said in The Hill interview.
Tillis also highlighted the lack of adequate funding and implementation instructions across all 50 states. “Let’s assume you only allow early voting in the month of October,” he said. “Then do you honestly believe that we can have this thing up in 50 states? There’s no funding. There’s no specific implementation instructions.” He called it “a joke” that anyone could suggest the bill could be implemented in time without causing major disruption to the election.
Earlier this week, Tillis expanded on his criticism, telling CNN’s State of the Union that implementing the legislation would be an “impossible task” ahead of November’s elections. “Why are we doing more things to undermine our confidence in elections, rather than getting the strong message out that will win for Republicans this year?” he asked, according to Politico.
The SAVE America Act (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) has been stalled repeatedly in the Senate despite Trump’s insistence that it is his top priority. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has repeatedly told Trump there are not enough votes to pass the bill, according to NBC News. No Democrat in the Senate supports it, and several Republicans have also opposed it, citing both the implementation challenges and concerns about restricting voting access.
The bill has faced multiple procedural defeats. In June, the Senate blocked Republican attempts to attach it to other legislation, and the Senate parliamentarian ruled that the SAVE America Act enacts major policy changes with only a tangential impact on federal spending or the deficit, making it ineligible to pass under the budget reconciliation process, which would require only a simple majority. That means it needs 60 votes in the 100-member chamber to overcome a Democratic filibuster—a threshold Republicans cannot reach.
Tillis, who is not running for reelection, was one of four Republican senators who voted against a June amendment sponsored by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) to attach Trump’s preferred version of the bill to a budget package. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also voted against it.
Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer has called the bill “Jim Crow 2.0,” and voting rights advocates have warned it could disenfranchise millions of voters. Meanwhile, Tillis has urged Republicans to focus instead on messaging about Democratic policies and accepting current voting laws. “Win by the good results that Republicans have produced and stop undermining the confidence in the elections,” he said on CNN.
Sources
- The Hill — Tillis’s declaration that the SAVE America Act is dead, his explanation of implementation timelines based on North Carolina’s voter ID experience, and lack of funding and instructions across states.
- Politico — Tillis calling implementation an “impossible task” and context on Trump’s pressure and the bill’s status.
- NBC News — Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s statement that there are not enough votes to pass the bill.
- Democracy Docket — Senate procedural votes and repeated Republican attempts to pass the bill.
