The Senate needs to pass the SAVE Act and since John Thune can’t or won’t get it done, he should be replaced by someone who can.
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Note from The Tennessee Conservative: Editorial statements in this column are the sole opinion of the author; they do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the staff of this publication.
Submitted by Trent D. Laviano –
HR 8281, the “Safeguard American Voter Eligibility” bill also known as the “SAVE Act” will establish a requirement for individuals to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship in order to register to vote in federal elections. It will prohibit states from accepting or processing a voter registration application without such proof. It will also impose additional requirements for states to identify noncitizens and remove them from lists of eligible voters.
In addition, it will also establish a private right of action against an election official who registers an applicant who has failed to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship as well as providing criminal penalties for certain offenses, including registering an applicant to vote in a federal election who fails to present documentary proof of U.S. citizenship. This bill passed in the House on 10 July 2026 by a margin of 221-198. Unfortunately, the Senate just recessed until 14 September without actually voting on this bill.
The need for this legislation should be obvious to anyone who is concerned with the integrity and credibility of the electoral process. This was clearly demonstrated by the recent revelation that 6,600 noncitizens had been registered to vote in New Jersey despite having checked “noncitizen” on the voter registration form. It was also determined that more than 400 of them have actually voted. The evidence of this many ineligible individuals having been enrolled as registered voters despite clearly admitting their ineligibility on an official form is a clear indication that this was not a matter of negligence but was actual complicity. The fact that voter fraud is commonplace in blue states and cities is no accident because it clearly benefits the Democrat party. The only reason why anyone would possibly oppose this legislation was actually stated by Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) who was candid enough to openly say that “If the SAVE Act passes then Democrats wouldn’t win another election in any state.”
There is no question that the passage of this bill is critical to the future of the country and the Republican Party. Although it passed in the House; the bill still faces an uncertain future in the Senate. That is despite the fact that there is a Republican majority in the Senate. Since the party holds the majority in the Senate, it is the responsibility of the Senate Majority Leader to do the utmost to see that this critical legislation is passed. John Thune currently holds that position and the buck stops with him!
Any organization or entity which has been established to carry out a defined task needs to designate a single individual who is responsible to see that the objective is attained. Depending on the specific purpose and structure of the organization, the title of the leader can vary widely. That individual can be designated as a President, a commander, a party leader, a coach, a manager, or a supervisor, etc. However, function is always the same.
The best concise description of this type of role can be found in the U.S. Army’s definition of command responsibility. This clearly states that a commander is “responsible for the accomplishment of all assigned missions and for everything the unit does or fails to do.”
That definition leaves no doubt regarding what is expected of an individual in such a position. This means that the passage of the SAVE Act depends on the effectiveness of John Thune as the Senate Majority Leader. Thus far, his performance has clearly failed to meet the standard.
He was certainly not the best choice to fulfill this vital role. He was one of three Senators who ran for the post. He was something of a compromise candidate when the Republicans in the Senate apparently chose him because he fell somewhere in the middle between the actual conservative, Rick Scott and the totally useless John Cornyn.
His selection was essentially the next step in his steady rise through the party leadership during his tenure in the Senate. This caused him to become heavily involved in fund raising. Unfortunately, his close association with Mitch McConnell seems to have unduly influenced his understanding of what it means to be a party leader. He seems so preoccupied with fund raising that he fails to realize that his primary focus should be on actually passing critical legislation.
This has resulted in a continuation of the status quo in which very little gets done. The Senate has just voted to take yet another one of its endless series of vacations. This typically happens when someone calls for “unanimous consent.” It is extremely rare for anyone to raise any objection because many of them are not especially eager to vote on an issue that might be controversial and clearly prefer going home to voting on a contentious bill. Although taking action which will limit illegal immigration is strongly supported by the conservative voters who make up the GOP base, many establishment Republicans (also known as RINOs or Chamber of Commerce Republicans) are not as enthusiastic because they don’t want to risk alienating large donors whose businesses profit from having a steady supply of cheap labor.
Until quite recently, it looked like the Senate was about to unanimously consent to yet another August recess in order to avoid having to vote on the SAVE Act. John Thune clearly learned to repeat the same tired excuses of the Mitch McConnell era (“we don’t have the votes at this time, but just keep sending money to the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee and we will eventually be able to elect a large enough majority to pass something at some time in the future”).
However, a group of Senators led by Mike Lee (UT) indicated that they would not consent to adjourning for yet another recess. This list included Rick Scott (FL), Ashley Moody (FL), Jim Banks (IN), Darline Graham (SC), Tommy Tuberville (AL), Dave McCormick (PA), Marsha Blackburn (TN) Bill Hagerty (TN), Roger Marshall (KS), Ted Cruz (TX), Todd Young (IN), Eric Schmitt (MO), and Katie Britt (AL) who stated that “I will stay in Washington and work as long as it takes to get the job done” President Trump posted a statement in which declared that “John Thune should not allow the United States Senate to ‘leave town’ until it passes The Save America Act or, far better still, TERMINATES THE FILIBUSTER, where Republicans can then quickly pass everything they ever dreamed of, including a full and deep-throated SAVE AMERICA ACT, the Budget, and the ever looming Debt Ceiling disaster, 1929.”
The recess was scheduled to begin on 7 August, and true to form the Senate chose to once again place expediency over principle. Although the lack of unanimous consent was enough to force a vote on the motion recess, it did not require a recorded vote to actually recess. It was obvious that there are a lot of Senators who preferred not to have to take a stand on both the motion to adjourn and the SAVE Act, and unfortunately the vote on the recess was based on volume as perceived by the presiding officer rather than a recorded vote. This is yet another way for Senators to avoid accountability. EVERY vote on every issue should always be a matter of record!
The Mitch McConnell era needs to end. Republican officeholders will have to choose where they stand. The Chamber of Commerce may be able to raise a lot of money for do-nothing establishment candidates, but that did not prevent John Cornyn and Bill Cassidy from losing primary races to MAGA challengers. Conservative voters have made it very clear how they intend to vote. It is now the time to separate the sheep from the goats.
The passage of the SAVE Act is too critical to allow things to continue as they have been. The Senate should stay in session for as long as it takes. There should not be any sympathy for anyone complaining about how it would be too hard to expect them to stay in session and get something done. Military personnel are frequently deployed to war zones for 9-12 months at a time and George Washington did not get back home to Mount Vernon for the entire eight-year duration of the American Revolution. It is hardly too much to expect the Senate to stay in Washington until the end of the 119th Congress in January 2027.
The Republicans have the majority and although Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski are not likely to vote to pass the bill, there is a good chance that John Fetterman will be willing to support it. There are probably a few other Democrats in purple states who might do so if faced with enough public pressure. Finally, J.D. Vance can vote to break any tie.
John Thune only received 13 out of 53 votes in the first round of voting for the majority leader position. There were 15 for John Cornyn and 13 for Rick Scott as well as 2 write-in votes. There was then a second ballot in which he managed to eke out a 29-24 win. This was a hardly a resounding level of confidence. The SAVE Act has a great deal of support from conservative base voters and Republican prospects for holding control of Congress in the upcoming midterm elections will largely depend on voter enthusiasm and a large turnout.
I think that John Thune should soon have a meeting with President Trump in which he is told that it is time for him to start acting like a leader or else step aside for someone else who can and will get things done. Everyone knows what happened to John Cornyn and Rick Scott is still around. It is no secret that there are several other Senators who would also like to replace him as majority leader and even more whose future support for him will be contingent on how effective he is in passing the SAVE Act. If he is unwilling or unable to get this done, he should be replaced as party leader and he should be challenged by a real conservative in the next primary.
There is no doubt that Republican Senators are already starting to hear from their constituents who want to see the passage of the SAVE Act. John Thune’s future as majority leader as well as his chances of getting reelected to the Senate in 2028 will depend on passing the SAVE Act.
About the Author: Trent D. Laviano served in Iraq and is retired from the U.S. Army. He is currently an attorney in Tennessee.
2 Responses
Amazing Op-ed. We all knew what John Thune would be like as Leader. After all, as you said, he was raised by Mitch McConnell. South Dakota voters really need to think about who they’ll vote for in ’28.
Thune is RINO TRASH!