Senate leaves for August without voting on Trump's voting bill, seven short of the 60 it needed

Senators left Washington for their month-long August break without ever voting on the SAVE America Act, President Trump's top elections bill. It would require anyone registering to vote in a federal election to show a document proving U.S. citizenship: a passport, a birth certificate, or naturalization papers. Today a person registering signs a sworn statement that they are a citizen, and lying on it is a federal crime that carries prison time, plus deportation for noncitizens. Republicans hold 53 of the Senate's 100 seats. Ending a filibuster — the delay tactic that lets the losing side block a bill unless 60 senators vote to move on — takes 60, and no Democrat offered to close the gap. Majority Leader John Thune (Sen-R South Dakota) had said for weeks that the votes were not there. The departure was reported Saturday, Aug. 8, and confirmed what had been clear since the spring.

The numbers, and the four Democrats who voted yes in the House:

• About 21.3 million voting-age citizens — roughly 9% of everyone old enough to vote — cannot quickly find a birth certificate, passport, or naturalization papers, per a 2023 Brennan Center and VoteRiders survey.
• Only about half of American adults hold a valid passport, so for most people the document in question is a birth certificate held in another state's records office.
• Ed Case (Rep-D Hawaii) — voted for the House version
• Henry Cuellar (Rep-D Texas) — voted for the House version
• Jared Golden (Rep-D Maine) — voted for the House version
• Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Rep-D Washington) — voted for the House version