Four Republican senators voted with Democrats to kill a voter ID bill tied to budget reconciliation.
Senators Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Mitch McConnell, and Thom Tillis all voted against the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility Act, known as the SAVE Act. The bill would have required voter ID and proof of citizenship nationwide. Their votes were enough to sink it.
This was not the first attempt. As originally reported, this marks the second time Republicans tried attaching the SAVE Act to a budget reconciliation package, and the second time it fell short. The earlier attempt came after a prolonged floor debate that drew national attention.
Special offer for our readers:
Stop Throwing Out Money: Pay No Interest Until 2027
The reconciliation package in question was largely focused on funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, totaling around $70 billion. Critics argued at the time that attaching the SAVE Act to the package was a political maneuver, since passing it through the Senate would require at least 60 votes either way.
The late Senator Lindsey Graham made the case plainly during earlier debate. “There’s no other reason to say you don’t have to have an ID. It just makes cheating easier,” Graham said. “Who wants a noncitizen voting in our election? If you’re against that, that makes me wonder.” Graham acknowledged the bill had little chance of clearing the Senate.
The votes came at a moment when election procedures were already drawing scrutiny. During California’s primary races, the state accepted mail-in ballots for a full week after Election Day and took an extended period to complete its count, drawing criticism from those concerned about election integrity.
The four senators who crossed party lines are familiar names to anyone tracking Republican dissent. McConnell and Tillis have both announced they will not seek re-election, so their political futures are already settled. Collins and Murkowski are a different matter. Collins has served in the Senate for nearly 30 years. Murkowski has held her seat for 23 years.
Murkowski’s tenure came close to ending in 2010, when Republican primary voters rejected her. She responded by launching a write-in campaign in the general election and won with the full support of the Republican Party establishment.
The repeated failure to pass the SAVE Act has prompted calls for consequences in the 2026 midterm elections. Some within the GOP have argued that losing the Senate majority in 2026 would carry serious risks, including the possibility of a Democratic-controlled Senate pursuing and succeeding in removing President Trump from office through impeachment.
The SAVE Act’s repeated collapse inside a Republican-controlled Senate raises a pointed question heading into the next election cycle. Whether Republican voters in Collins and Murkowski’s states will respond at the ballot box remains to be seen.
