Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s effort to smother expectations that the SAVE America Act could pass the Senate ignited a wildfire of indignation.
The core of the legislation is the requirement for voter ID. President Donald Trump has said he will let other legislation sit on his desk until the Senate approves it. Although Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the Senate, 60 votes are needed for passage, even assuming all Republicans support it.
Thune has worked hard to lower expectations that what is called a “talking filibuster” would get the bill passed.
I asked Thune if he feels pressure to pass SAVE America Act mounting:
“A lot of that is, it’s in that kind of, you know, paid influencer ecosystem,” he said
Adds there’s support among GOP Sens, but “the process & how do you ultimately try & get a result is still unclear to me”
— Brennan Leach (@brennanleach) March 9, 2026
“Having studied it and researched it pretty thoroughly, you have to show me how, in the end, it prevails and succeeds. Because I think what has been promised out there is that it would actually, in the end, get an outcome. And I find it very hard to see that based on actual past experience,” he said recently, according to NBC News.
“We can’t find a piece of legislation in history that’s been passed that way,” he said.
But on Monday, he veered into bashing its supporters, telling an NBC reporter who asked about the pressure to pass the bill, “A lot of that is, it’s in that kind of, you know, paid influencer ecosystem,” according to a post on social media plaform X.
“A reporter asked [John Thune] if he’s feeling the pressure [to pass the SAVE America Act] and he said those are just all paid influencers. Really? Don’t [GOP Senators] realize they have to give the American people some reason to go vote for them this fall?”
Election Integrity… pic.twitter.com/JphxvD9ifT
— One America News (@OANN) March 10, 2026
Thune added his usual stipulation: “the process & how do you ultimately try & get a result is still unclear to me.”
The jab at “paid influencers” ignited the bill’s supporters.
“In what world is this a paid influencer campaign?” Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a supporter of the bill when it passed the House, posted on X.
Wow Senate Majority Leader John Thune thinks President Donald Trump is a “paid influencer”? https://t.co/9pIf2VJx4K pic.twitter.com/UjD0GZI4zD
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) March 9, 2026
“Has John Thune talked to any actual voters in the last decade? This is crazy talk that is certain to lose the senate,” commentator David Marcus lashed out on X.
A talking filibuster, in which Democrats would hold the floor to block the bill, would be difficult and time-consuming, with the potential to bring the Senate to a halt for weeks, one expert said.
🚨Sen. Mike Lee CLAPS BACK at John Thune: “I regret that some in Washington are dismissing all those who support the SAVE America Act as somehow ‘paid influencers’ or the product of paid influencers. This is wrong.”
“So if you’re hearing this message and you agree with these… pic.twitter.com/ryk7n3g4PC
— Morse Report (@MorseReport) March 10, 2026
Sarah Binder, a political science professor at George Washington University, told NBC News, “The majority needs more than votes to prevail during a ‘talking filibuster.’ Intensity, commitment, and energy matter just as much. Why? Because Senate rules put the burden on the majority to maintain a quorum of 51 senators. If you lose your quorum, the Senate adjourns, and the talking stops.
“What’s more, as a talking filibuster drags on for days, if not weeks, all the rest of the majority’s agenda — bills and nominations alike — is put on hold. The majority can’t win the endurance test if it’s not willing to go the distance — possibly for weeks on end,” she said.
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