It's always exciting after we win an election and have the House, Senate, and White House — which we did after both the 2016 and 2024 elections. Having that trifecta makes us think we're going to get so much done, and it's going to be great. And then reality sets in, and it's never that awesome.
Right now, the SAVE America Act is effectively dead. This commonsense election integrity bill, which requires proof of citizenship to register to vote and a photo ID to vote, wasn't just stopped by Democrats. Our own side helped kill it.
We have the trifecta. We still lost.
Democrats blocked the bill in lockstep, as expected. Clearing the 60-vote filibuster threshold meant Republicans needed either Democratic crossovers — not happening — or the will to scrap the threshold. They had neither. An amendment from Sen. Kennedy to attach the bill to the reconciliation package failed 48-50, with four Republicans — Thom Tillis, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, and Mitch McConnell — voting with the unified Democrats to kill it.
Four Republicans. That's all it took to sink one of the most important election integrity bills in decades — one with widespread bipartisan public support, no less.
All four are committed filibuster defenders, protecting a procedural rule Democrats will eliminate the moment they're back in power. Trump has not been quiet about it, and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) fought hard, pushing a talking-filibuster strategy and staging what amounted to a floor takeover last month to force a vote. His colleagues' response? They were annoyed. It essentially backfired.
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Republican senators told NOTUS the campaign was "beyond annoying" and "sad." One said, "They've convinced themselves that the longer it hangs around, the more popular it gets. The reality is — I'm quite certain they haven't gained a single vote, and may have lost a few with time." Another dismissed Lee's posting frequency, noting he puts something out every "25 seconds," and said, "I feel like [the pressure campaign] has sort of dissipated… Maybe people are tiring of it."
That’s not what I’m tired of. I’m tired of Republicans being wimps and letting Democrats walk all over them.
While it’s true that Democrats got forced on record voting against voter ID, how many people even realize that this even happened? It may be a good talking point, but it doesn't revive a dead election integrity bill. One senator summed up the collective shrug: "When put in a lineup of the top 100 things people are thinking about every day, it doesn't get very high on the list." Another delivered the eulogy: "That horse has left the barn."
For what it’s worth, Lee is undeterred. "It's not on the floor right now, but we're gonna get back to it," he said. Admirable. The math, however, hasn't changed. I had hope there was enough desire to make it happen. Sadly, I’m starting to see it’s unlikely.
There's a bitter pattern to all of this. Republicans in the minority are unified, scrappy, and ready to fight. Republicans in the majority lose focus, start triangulating, and give up fast. A useless majority may be the most demoralizing thing in politics — worse, in some ways, than having no majority at all.
