Trump’s Demand on SAVE Act Makes Passing Any New Reconciliation Bill Difficult

Trump insists the SAVE Act be part of a new reconciliation bill.

Trump on Collision Course with the Senate

The Wall Street Journal reports Trump Is on Collision Course With Senate Republicans

With just months to go until the fall elections, Trump has found himself at odds with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) and other Republican lawmakers, who say the votes aren’t there for his top priority: the SAVE America Act, a bill that would tighten voting rules nationwide.

“It’s true that Republicans have been deferential to the president to a point. That doesn’t seem to have done any good,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas). “That is, if you support the president, that doesn’t mean he’s going to support you.”

Many Senate Republicans want the White House to provide more details on Iran, alarmed by what they have heard about the possible terms of a fragile peace deal, including easing sanctions and freeing up frozen cash.

“Right now Iran is ending up stronger than they started, and we’ve achieved none of the objectives originally laid out, so you might say that’s disappointing,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy (R., La.), who, like Cornyn, was defeated by a Trump-backed primary challenger last month.

“History demonstrates giving billions of dollars to theocratic lunatics who want to murder us is an exceptionally bad idea,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas).

Late Tuesday, Cassidy and three other GOP senators—Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska—crossed party lines to pass a nonbinding resolution to rein in Trump’s war powers.

Trump told reporters Tuesday that the discussion would focus on the SAVE America Act, which he has called critical to the GOP keeping its majorities in Congress.

The lack of progress in the Senate has led to calls from Trump to eliminate the filibuster or fire the current parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, for blocking attempts to lift the 60-vote requirement for the SAVE America Act and other measures championed by Trump. Thune has poured cold water on those ideas.

SAVE Act Math

• The SAVE Act is not a budget item. It requires 60 votes for passage. Zero chance of that, literally.
• Alternatively, the Senate could vote to end the Filibuster with a mere 50 votes. However, there are not 50 votes for that.

Implications

Multiple Republican senators remain opposed or highly skeptical of nuking/changing the filibuster for this bill:

• Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has repeatedly said he does not have the votes and is cool on aggressive procedural moves.
• Key holdouts/skeptics include: Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Susan Collins (R-ME), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Thom Tillis (R-NC).
• Recent procedural votes (e.g., advancing debate or amendments) have shown cracks — often landing around 48-51 with GOP defections.

Trump continues pressing hard for the filibuster change (or full repeal) tied to SAVE, but top Senate Republicans view it as a long-term risk (Democrats could use it later) and a distraction from other priorities.

Passing a new reconciliation bill is hard enough stand alone. Attaching the SAVE Act makes it impossible.

Thune has said there are not 50 votes and there aren’t. At best he has 48 and Thune has hinted he does not even have that.

Forcing a vote that Trump wants would fail and build further Senate Republican sentiment against Trump.

Defense Spending

The Hill reports Senate GOP balks at Trump demand to boost defense funding in third reconciliation bill

Senate Republicans say they are in no mood to back President Trump’s demand that Congress use the budget reconciliation process a third time to provide another $350 billion to the Pentagon.

“We don’t want to have another vote-a-rama. The last vote-a-rama about broke our backs. It was way too long. We ended up right where we started, and it’s frustrating for our own members,” said a Republican senator, who requested anonymity to discuss Republican reluctance to embrace Trump’s call for a third reconciliation package.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said he supports more spending for the Defense Department but warns “it’s going to be an enormously heavy lift in this environment to get that done, particularly with just Republican votes.”

Cornyn warned that forcing vulnerable GOP incumbents to run through the gauntlet of another budget reconciliation debate and vote-a-rama will only make their reelection races more difficult.

“A lot of races that shouldn’t be in play are in play,” he said of Democrats’ growing chances of capturing the Senate in the midterm election.

Even before Trump called on Congress to pass a third reconciliation package, Cornyn warned there would be little chance of succeeding.  “I don’t think there’s any way,” he said.

One big complicating factor to passing $350 billion for the Pentagon through budget reconciliation is that conservative budget hawks, such as Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), want to offset the entire cost of the bill with other spending cuts.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said that Trump’s call for Republicans to rely on budget reconciliation once again to circumvent Democratic opposition faces big hurdles. “I think another round of reconciliation is going to be very, very, very challenging.”

Murkowski noted that Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee Chair Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) both expressed their view at a hearing earlier this week that a third reconciliation package has little chance of passing.

Date Deadlines

On June 22, Politico reported House GOP races to make Recon 3.0 real

The House returns Tuesday with only eight legislative days before they break again for the July 4 holiday. If members want a realistic chance at fulfilling their self-imposed timeline for advancing the legislation before the end of July — when they pause work again for another five weeks — they need to move fast.

That means assembling, and then adopting, a budget resolution — the first step in unlocking the filibuster skirting power of the reconciliation process. It took Republicans months to advance such a blueprint during their two earlier reconciliation efforts this Congress.

Reconciliation talks also come as President Donald Trump is expected to join the Senate’s GOP lunch Wednesday, where he’ll likely continue pushing the chamber to pass his SAVE America Act or attach pieces of the GOP elections bill to the party-line legislation (an idea one of the bill’s biggest backers, Sen. Mike Lee, spiked Sunday).

Republicans involved with Reconciliation 3.0 discussions also warn they need to reach a final agreement on how to pay for the bill as well as what policy items will be included before GOP leaders can try to advance any budget resolution.

At this point, however, many fiscal hawks and at-risk incumbents are largely unhappy about how the discussions are coming along.

“It’s fake pay-fors for defense spending no one has fully agreed to and no meaningful reforms,” said one House Republican granted anonymity to discuss private talks.

Trump’s SAVE Act Demands

Truth Social: Great Job by hard working Scott Pressler on Fox & Friends talking about using the Filibuster, or Talking Filibuster, in order to pass THE SAVE AMERICA ACT, an 88% issue with ALL VOTERS. It must be done immediately. It supersedes everything else. MUST GO TO THE FRONT OF THE LINE. I, as President, will not sign other Bills until this is passed, AND NOT THE WATERED DOWN VERSION – GO FOR THE GOLD: MUST SHOW VOTER I.D. & PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP: NO MAIL-IN BALLOTS EXCEPT FOR MILITARY – ILLNESS, DISABILITY, TRAVEL: NO MEN IN WOMEN’S SPORTS: NO TRANSGENDER MUTILIZATION FOR CHILDREN! DO NOT FAIL!!! President DONALD J. TRUMP

Mar 08, 2026, 6:22 AM

That post is from March, but Trump has repeated that message continually.

Here’s one from June 17 where he reiterated the message.

The Republicans agreed with Dumocrats to remove very fair, and talented, William Pulte, from serving as Acting DNI in return for getting FISA approved by the Dumocrats. However, the Republicans moved so fast with the hearings of the Great Jay Clayton, current U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, that Pulte would be gone before the Dumocrats would vote on FISA. Now, the Dumocrats are saying they will vote against FISA — So, the Republicans wound up having fulfilled their commitment, but Dumocrats broke the Deal. In addition, the newly nominated U.S. Attorney, Jamie McDonald, must be confirmed and blue slipped. Because of the ridiculous views of Republicans on blue slipping (Dumocrats are often willing to nix it), I may not be able to get the extraordinary Sullivan & Cromwell Partner, Jamie, approved, and I don’t want to take Jay Clayton away from the great job he is doing until Jamie is in place. Therefore, to add a slight bit of intrigue but, for the Good of the Nation, and the People of our Country, I will not approve FISA without THE SAVE AMERICA ACT going along with it. Not complicated, actually, the Republicans fell into a trap. Regarding the approval of our Great Patriot, Jay Clayton, we are cancelling the Senate Hearing RE: DNI today, and will not be going forward until Jamie McDonald is approved to be U.S. Attorney. In the meantime, Bill Pulte will remain as the Acting Director of National Intelligence. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP

Jun 17, 2026, 1:54 AM

Overall Political Math

• The SAVE Act is not a budget item. It requires 60 votes for passage. There is zero chance of that, literally. Alternatively, the Senate could vote to end the Filibuster with a mere 50 votes. However, there are not 50 votes for that.
• Senate Republicans “don’t want to have another vote-a-rama.”
• Republicans involved with Reconciliation 3.0 discussions warn they need to reach a final agreement on how to pay for the bill. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), want to offset the entire cost of the bill with other spending cuts.
• Republican Senators Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska crossed party lines on Tuesday to pass a nonbinding resolution to rein in Trump’s war powers. Their support for more military funding is questionable. That alone would leave Republicans one vote short.

Trump Howls at the Moon

Despite the fact that there are not 60 votes to pass the SAVE Act and there are not even 50 votes to change the rules, Trump insists the SAVE Act be part of new reconciliation bill.

All the while, it is hard enough to pass any reconciliation bill stand alone.

It is unclear if there are 50 votes for anything, let alone something as politically toxic as the SAVE Act.

Trump is howling at the moon trying to change its orbit.

In Support of Keith Self’s Position

I 100% support the proposal by @RepKeithSelf.

If Trump holds firm, the SAVE Act wont pass so nothing will.

I favor no more spending on anything, especially the military. If you run out of weapons you can’t fight a war. If there is no funding, Trump will be limited in restarting the war in Iran.

So please hold firm Keith Self. If a majority does, nothing will get done. And that’s great. However …

My General Rule

My general rule in these matters has always been “expect more of this for more of that”. Republicans always cave in and give Democrats more social spending in return for more military spending.

That rule has never failed in close matters. In fact, the longer Republicans bicker, the more money Democrats eventually get.

Is This Time Different?

Forgive me for entertaining the idea that this time may be different (a position I have never taken before in such matters).

If a reconciliation bill passes with Democrat support, I plead temporary insanity in advance.

However, it is still possible Republicans can get to 50 votes for something, even if I cannot say what that something is (other that it will not include the SAVE Act).

If so, Trump will sign it. He’s a hypocrite, liar, pedophile protector, warmonger who lost control of the Senate and lost a war in Iran.

If Reconciliation 3.0 passes, it will be the last piece of major Republican legislation for the entire rest of his term.

Republicans will lose the House and I believe the Senate too in the midterms.

Court Strikes Trump’s SAVE Order

Not to be confused with the SAVE Act, on June 2026 I noted : Court Strikes Trump’s Executive Order on SAVE Voter-Verification System

The League of Women Voters prevails over Trump in court.

The SAVE Act is an attempt to get the same thing via legislation.

Attempt to Steal the Election

Q: What is the point of Trump’s obviously illegal Executive Orders?
A: The same as the SAVE ACT. Trump wants to rig the election to steal it.

If this was not obvious before, it should be now. Trump lost on six points, as predicted, an admittedly easy call.

Trump will lose on restricting mail-in votes too, and the SAVE ACT is dead.

Trump will win on counting ballots that arrive after election election day, and I support that ruling.

This month, I expect the Supreme Court to rule on Birthright Citizenship.

For discussion, please see Supreme Court Birthright Citizenship Arguments Suggest 7-2 Minimum Against Trump

Justice Kavanaugh hammers Trump’s lawyer, setting the tone.

Regarding Trump’s Supreme Court loss on tariffs, I called tariffs correctly getting each justice correct. For discussion, please see Supreme Court Strikes Trump’s Reciprocal Tariffs In 6-3 Vote (I Told You So)

Forgive me for bragging, but I got every justice correct.

I called the League of Women Voters case correctly, and I will get the Birthright Citizenship case correct as well.

It will be another well-deserved face slap smack to the face of Trump, and it’s coming up soon.