There might be a renewed chance that Senate Republicans could ram through the SAVE America Act, as one of the moderate Senators who long opposed the bill had switched her vote in a vote made on the night of Friday, June 5. That is Sen. Collis of Maine, a notorious RINO who nevertheless appears to have changed her mind to support Trump and Republicans.
As background, the SAVE America Act, which, amongst other things, imposes limitations on mail-in voting and requires voter ID, has long been stalled in the Senate because not enough Republican Senators will get behind the bill and fully support it, leaving it floundering and looking like it might be stalled for good. That comes despite MAGA routinely demanding that Republicans get it passed.
The fight came as teh Senate voted on Republicans’ $70 billion immigration enforcement package, which did eventually pass. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) first tried to get a revised version of the SAVE America Act added to the spending package, but that was shot down by four Republicans, all of whom are notorious RINOs: Collins, Murkowski, McConnell, and Tillis. Every Democrat voted against it as well. That denied the Republicans the 50 votes they would have needed to even try to overcome the filibuster issue with a talking filibuster strategy.
However, a glimmer of hope soon came, as a second attempt pushed forward by Sen. Mike Lee fared much better. That was because Sen. Collins switched her vote and moved to support the original SAVE America Act. That meant it reached 50 votes, and Vice President JD Vance could have cast a tie-breaking vote to support it. Were it not for ridiculous Senate rules imposed by the Senate Parliamentarian, who Trump wants removed.
Sen. Mike Lee, a consistent proponent of the SAVE America Act, cheered that outcome on X. He said, “51 votes for the SAVE America Act during tonight’s budget reconciliation vote-a-rama That means that but for the Zombie Filibuster, the House-passed SAVE America Act would now be on its way to the White House for President Trump’s signature.” He then added, “Correction: Tillis switched his vote at the end, making the total 50-49. Still carried a simple majority.”
Lee has remained a forceful and consistent advocate of the SAVE America Act. In a post on June 8, for example, he said, “In light of the stunningly improbable LA mayoral election results, the Senate should turn immediately to the SAVE America Act And keep debating it until it passes Literally nothing is more important”.
In another post, this one on June 9, he said, “FYI—I will NOT stop advocating for the SAVE America Act We haven’t exhausted all of the tools at our disposal to pass it Until we have done so, I’m not going to stop”. In another post, he said, “We need to put the SAVE America Act back on the Senate floor And keep debating it until it passes If we do that, it will pass This would require a considerable investment of time and patience But it would work”
"*" indicates required fields
Watch the Senator comment on the SAVE America Act here: