Inside House Republicans' plan to end run Dem opposition and pass Trump-backed voter ID

By Fox News · Fox News

Congressional Republicans have a plan to pass key portions of the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act before the end of this year. The election integrity bill backed by President Donald Trump and fiercely opposed by Democrats has stalled in Congress, where Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has been reluctant to call it up for a vote, given that it's all but assured to fail. At least several Democrats would be needed to reach the Senate's 60-vote threshold to break a filibuster. But left-wing lawmakers in the House and Senate have panned the legislation as an attempt to sow doubt in U.S. elections at best and voter suppression at worst. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is now pushing Republicans to pass the bill's main mandates via the budget reconciliation process, which allows the party in power to pass sweeping fiscal policy without input from the minority due to its sidelining of the Senate filibuster. Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., chairman of the Committee on House Administration, is tasked with overseeing how that part of the bill gets done. TRUMP QUESTIONS THUNE'S LEADERSHIP AS SAVE AMERICA ACT STALLS "I'd rather pass the SAVE America Act. But recognizing that the Senate might not be able to get that done with the 60-vote threshold, let's leverage the parliamentary procedure, bring that threshold down to 50, and get some really commonsense reforms done," Steil told Fox News Digital in an interview. "I've been having great conversations with my colleagues in the administration as well as the Senate." SENATE FACES 'COME-TO-JESUS' MOMENT ON TRUMP'S ELECTION PRIORITY UNDER GOP'S NEW PLAN Steil told Fox News Digital that he hoped Congress could pass a reconciliation bill with SAVE America before the November midterm elections, but conceded "the clock is ticking down pretty quickly." The budget reconciliation process is a lengthy one, with Republicans having taken roughly half a year to use it to pass Trump's signature One Big, Beautiful Bil…