Key GOP Senator Says Trump’s SAVE Act is Dead: ‘It’s Not Going to Pass’

(Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images)

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), one of the key swing votes in the U.S. Senate, told reporters on Tuesday she would not vote to advance President Donald Trump’s voter ID bill, called the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act.

Trump has put all of his political capital behind the bill, going so far as to threaten to refuse to sign any other piece of legislation until it passes and becomes law. The SAVE Act would require proof of citizenship, like showing a passport or birth certificate, while registering to vote, and would greatly restrict mail-in voting – the most contentious part of the bill.

“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,” Trump declared on social media earlier in the month.

Igor Bobic, Huffpost’s senior politics editor, reported Tuesday that Murkowski not only told reporters she will not only vote against moving the bill forward, but argued its all but dead in the Senate.

“I’m not prepared to go down this uncertain and ill defined path that we’re looking at,” Murkowski reportedly said of the SAVE Act debate in the Senate. Bobic added:

On Mike Lee: “He knows he doesn’t have the 60 votes, so it’s not going to pass.”

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) has encouraged GOP leadership to force a standing filibuster to try and pass the bill, which would require Senate Democrats to physically filibuster the bill by giving floor speeches.

Murkowski had come out against the bill back in February and argued at the time it would negatively impact rural voters, who make up a large part of her constituency in Alaska.

“When Democrats attempted to advance sweeping election reform legislation in 2021, Republicans were unanimous in opposition because it would have federalized elections, something we have long opposed,” Murkowski said in a statement. “Now, I’m seeing proposals such as the SAVE Act and MEGA that would effectively do just that. Once again, I do not support these efforts.” She added:

Not only does the U.S. Constitution clearly provide states the authority to regulate the “times, places, and manner” of holding federal elections, but one-size-fits-all mandates from Washington, D.C., seldom work in places like Alaska.

Election Day is fast approaching. Imposing new federal requirements now, when states are deep into their preparations, would negatively impact election integrity by forcing election officials to scramble to adhere to new policies likely without the necessary resources. Ensuring public trust in our elections is at the core of our democracy, but federal overreach is not how we achieve this.

The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reported on Tuesday that another GOP Senator, speaking on the condition of anonymity, also worries the bill will hurt rural voters.

“I think it’s problematic because in some of these states, 60 or 70 percent of people vote by mail. You don’t want to disenfranchise them. Some states have really encouraged it over the years,” the senator was quoted as saying. Bolton added that the senator “noted that Republican states such as Montana and Utah have promoted absentee voting.”

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