The contentious SAVE America Act, championed by Donald Trump, seems destined to meet its demise in the Senate.

This legislation, a pivotal element of Trump’s MAGA platform, requires 60 votes to clear the Senate hurdle. It narrowly passed a ‘test’ vote on Tuesday, which needed only a simple majority to proceed.

Formally named the Save America Voting Eligibility Act, the bill mandates that voters provide proof of U.S. citizenship to participate in elections. Trump has continually touted this requirement as crucial for ensuring the integrity of American electoral processes.

Acceptable documentation includes a passport, birth certificate, or a REAL ID confirming citizenship status, whereas student IDs and utility bills are not considered valid.

Trump has issued a stern caution to any Republican detractors of his hallmark bill.

“Only those who are sick, demented, or deranged could oppose the Save America Act,” he declared on Truth Social, vowing to oppose any GOP member who stands against him.

‘Each one of these votes will be used against them – a guaranteed loss,’ he went on.

The president has made the bill a personal crusade, declaring that he will not sign any other legislation until the Senate passes it. 

The legislation, officially called the Save America Voting Eligibility Act, would require proof of U.S. citizenship to cast a ballot, a measure Trump has spent weeks demanding as essential to ‘protect American elections’

Senate Majority Leader John Thune speaks during a press conference

That is now becoming a headache for Senate Majority Leader John Thune. 

‘It supersedes everything else,’ Trump wrote earlier this month, calling the measure ‘one of the most important and consequential pieces of legislation in American history.’

The first vote, a procedural step to open debate, needed just 51 senators to pass. Fifty of the 53 Senate Republicans pledged support, enough to move it forward. But that’s where it is doomed to be tied up forever.

North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, who is not seeking reelection, did not vote on the bill, and Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, who has previously been elected as a write-in candidate and is not up again until 2028, voted no. Senator Mitch McConnell was the 51st affirmative vote.

Senator Susan Collins, a vulnerable GOP incumbent up again this November, became the 50th backer of the bill last week, a move for which she was thanked by House Republican Anna Paulina Luna with a delivery of 50 white roses to Collins’ office. 

People wait in line to vote on Florida’s last early voting day for the 2024 presidential election in Florida, at the Miami-Dade County Elections Department in Miami, Florida, USA, 03 November 2024

Close up photograph of social security cards & passport, selective focus

Trump has insisted that the Senate version should go even further — calling for voter ID, proof of citizenship, strict limits on mail-in ballots, and even bans on transgender surgeries for minors and biological men competing in women’s sports.

That’s created a rift with House Republicans, who passed a ‘watered-down’ version last month that focused solely on election rules.

Meanwhile, deepening the standoff between the chambers, hardline House conservatives threatened to tank other Senate-passed bills — beginning with a routine small-business measure- until the SAVE Act clears Congress. Only 40 House Republicans voted against the small business bill on Tuesday, which saw the measure pass.

With the Senate now preparing for days of high-stakes debate and talk of a possible filibuster showdown, Washington is once again at the center of a Trump-fueled standoff — and the stakes for both parties couldn’t be higher.