GOP reaches key 50-vote threshold for Trump-backed voter ID bill as Senate fight looms

Senate Republicans now have enough support within their conference to pass Trump-backed voter ID legislation, but a major hurdle remains.

The Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act has secured the backing of 50 Senate Republicans, following a pressure campaign by the White House and a cohort of Senate conservatives over the past several weeks.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has led the charge in the upper chamber, ramping up his efforts last week as the bill moved through the House.

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Lee told Fox News Digital that he was "ecstatic" about the progress made in shoring up support for the legislation and hoped the Senate would move as quickly as possible to consider it. 

"I would love to see us turn to it next week, perhaps the day after the State of the Union address," Lee said. "I think that would be good timing. But I think this needs to get done sooner rather than later."

That multifaceted campaign — both on social media and behind closed doors in the Senate — proved successful, drawing support from Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and several others.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, became the 50th senator to back the bill. That gives Republicans the internal support they need to advance the legislation procedurally, but only if they turn to the standing, or talking, filibuster.

Before leaving Washington, D.C., for a weeklong break last week, Lee and other supporters, including Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., pitched the voter ID proposal and potential pathways to pass it to colleagues.

"We had some good senators stand up and say, ‘No, we got to fight for this,’" Johnson told Fox News Digital. "I'm with them. We need to fight for this."

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Still, the effort faces heavy resistance from Senate Democrats, who are nearly unified in their opposition.

The only potential outlier is Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who has pushed back against Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s, D-N.Y., characterization of the bill as "Jim Crow 2.0" but has not said whether he would ultimately support the SAVE America Act.

Despite that possibility, Schumer and most of his caucus plan to block the legislation.

"We will not let it pass in the Senate," Schumer told CNN’s Jake Tapper. "We are fighting it tooth and nail."

Not every Senate Republican is onboard, either. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has announced she will vote against the measure, while Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., have not signed on as co-sponsors.

One option to bypass Democratic opposition would be nuking the filibuster and its 60-vote threshold — a move some congressional Republicans argue has effectively become a "zombie filibuster," since legislation can be blocked simply by withholding votes rather than holding the floor.

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Despite previous pressure from President Donald Trump to eliminate the filibuster, the move does not have the votes among Republicans to succeed — a point Thune underscored last week.

"There aren't anywhere close to the votes — not even close — to nuking the filibuster," Thune said.

That leaves a return to the standing, or talking, filibuster — the precursor to today’s procedural hurdle. Under that approach, Senate Democrats would be required to hold the floor and publicly debate their opposition, as senators did for decades before the modern filibuster became standard practice.

The idea appears to be gaining traction among some Republicans, though critics warn it could effectively paralyze the upper chamber for days, weeks or even months, depending on Democrats’ resolve.

Lee said that many senators he's spoken with are open to the idea, and that those who were reluctant didn't believe it wouldn't work. 

"I understand why people might have questions about a procedure that we're not familiar with," Lee said. "It doesn't mean we don't have to do it, because we do."

Meanwhile, Trump has suggested he could take matters into his own hands if Congress cannot pass the SAVE America Act.

In a Truth Social post last week, Trump called the legislation a "CAN’T MISS FOR RE-ELECTION IN THE MIDTERMS, AND BEYOND."

"This is an issue that must be fought, and must be fought, NOW! If we can’t get it through Congress, there are legal reasons why this SCAM is not permitted," Trump wrote. "I will be presenting them shortly, in the form of an Executive Order."