Sen.
John Kennedy is urging his fellow Republicans to use every procedural tool at their disposal to pass the SAVE America Act, including the budget reconciliation process that would allow the measure to clear the Senate with a simple majority rather than the 60 votes needed to overcome a Democratic filibuster.
As reported by Western Journal, Senate Majority Leader John Thune currently has the SAVE America Act queued up for consideration next week as a standard policy measure, which would subject it to the Senates 60-vote threshold and almost certain Democratic obstruction. The legislation, strongly backed by former President Donald Trump, would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and mandate photo identification at the ballot box, while tightening rules on mail-in voting but preserving access for the disabled, military personnel, and those traveling outside their home states.
From the Senate floor, Kennedy pressed his colleagues to reclassify the bill under budget reconciliation rules, which would lower the bar to 50 votes, with Vice President J.D. Vance available to cast a tie-breaking vote if necessary. He reminded Republicans that this is precisely how they pushed the Big Beautiful Bill through last summer despite unified Democratic resistance, just as Democrats themselves muscled the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan through in March 2021 on a 50-49 party-line vote.
Now its harder than I described because, as you know, there are parameters on reconciliation. Anything you propose through reconciliation has to be paid for. We can find the money, Kennedy said, underscoring his belief that fiscal adjustments could be structured to satisfy the rules. And anything you pass through reconciliation has to conform with the contours of the Budget Control Act. We call that giving a provision a Byrd bath. And our parliamentarian decides what passes muster on the Budget Control Act and what doesnt, he added, referring to the Senates arcane but powerful procedural filter.
Congress.gov defines this Byrd bath, formally known as the Byrd rule, as a constraint that limits reconciliation bills to provisions directly tied to federal spending and revenue, excluding so-called extraneous matter that strays into pure policy. Under that standard, extraneous provisions include those that produce a change in outlays or revenues that is merely incidental to the non-budgetary components of the provision, a test that has frequently frustrated efforts to attach broader reforms to budget vehicles.
Kennedy argued that Republicans should not be intimidated by the complexity of these rules and instead should marshal top legal talent to design a version of the SAVE America Act that can survive the parliamentarians scrutiny. He urged his party to instruct those attorneys to Craft us a SAVE Act that will pass muster under the Budget Control Act and can be blessed by the parliamentarian, signaling that election integrity is important enough to warrant a maximal strategic effort.
Ive been here 10 years. Ive seen things pass muster survive a Byrd bath that I didnt think had a hope in hell, Kennedy observed, noting the unpredictability of the process, while others that he thought were slam dunks got washed out of legislation by the Senate parliamentarian. His comments highlighted the uneven history of parliamentarian rulings, which have alternately allowed and blocked significant policy provisions depending on how closely they could be tied to budgetary effects.
That unpredictability was on display last June, when the parliamentarian ordered the removal of a Big Beautiful Bill provision that would have barred illegal immigrants from receiving Medicaid benefits. Turning Point USA CEO Charlie Kirk blasted the decision, writing on social media, Elizabeth McDonough stopped the Senate bill from blocking illegals from getting Medicaid, a criticism that reflected broader conservative frustration with unelected officials constraining elected lawmakers.
Kirk went further, warning that an [an] unelected Senate staffer is thwarting the will of 75 million people who voted to make sure foreign alien invaders arent getting taxpayer benefits. This is a red line. The Senate needs to CHANGE THE RULES, fire her, or find a solution, he added, insisting, This is in the hands of the Senate to find a solution. We have 53 votes figure it out! No more excuses. His remarks echoed a growing sentiment on the right that procedural norms are being weaponized to block conservative priorities, even when Republicans hold numerical majorities.
For Kennedy, that reality is precisely why Republicans must be willing to test the limits of reconciliation in defense of election integrity, rather than defaulting to a process that hands Democrats an easy veto. You dont know until you try, and we havent tried. And if this bill is as important as everybody says it is and I think it is, because were not just talking about voting, were talking about the trust of the American people in our elections if this bill is as important as we say it is, we should try it through reconciliation, he said, framing the SAVE America Act as a test of whether the Senate majority is prepared to use its power to secure the ballot box.
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