NEW: Sen. Thune Under Fire After Downplaying Support For SAVE Act: ‘Paid Influencer Ecosystem’

Senate Majority Leader John Thune is catching heat from the MAGA right after he brushed off a monthlong push to force a vote on the SAVE America Act, suggesting the uproar is being fueled by a “paid influencer ecosystem” and warning the bill may not have the votes to pass the Senate.

Thune’s comments landed like a match on gasoline as conservative activists and social media heavyweights have demanded action on the GOP voting bill, which would require voter ID and proof of citizenship to register to vote. The House passed the measure in February, and President Donald Trump has made it a major priority.

But Thune said Monday that the path in the Senate is far less simple than online activists are claiming, especially if Republicans try to use a talking filibuster strategy to sidestep the usual 60-vote hurdle.

“Having studied it, researched it pretty thoroughly, you have to show me how, in the end, it prevails and succeeds,” Thune told reporters. “Because I think what has been promised out there is that it would actually, in the end, get an outcome, and I find it very hard to see that based on actual past experience.”

Thune has previously described the outside pressure as an online “echo chamber.” Now he’s leaning even harder into that argument, saying he cannot “guarantee” an outcome even though he has promised to hold a vote.

The core problem is math and process. Republicans hold 53 Senate seats, with Democrats at 47. Nearly all Senate Republicans have co-sponsored the bill, including Thune, but several GOP senators have made clear they do not support the procedural path some activists want — a talking filibuster approach designed to keep the bill alive without the normal 60-vote threshold.

🚨 BREAKING: Senate Leader John Thune announces the votes ARE NOT THERE for a talking filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act — AND he doubts the ability to pass the bill through reconciliation, which would require only a simple majority

Trump mentioned convincing the 4-5… pic.twitter.com/drE6ythGIs

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) March 10, 2026

Thune said Republicans would need not only agreement on the goal, but unity on the process and a plan to block amendments that could gut the bill.

“What I’ve said before is, you have to have unified support, not only in support of the ultimate goal, which is the SAVE America Act, but on the process to be able to defeat amendments that would undo the legislation in the first place,” Thune said Monday. “And it is a – we can’t find a piece of legislation in history that’s been passed that way.”

RELATED: JUST IN: Senate Leader Thune Confirms Vote To Secure Elections With SAVE Act

Activists insist Republicans are overthinking it, and they’ve been applying heavy public pressure, with Scott Presler emerging as the most visible online organizer. That campaign is already moving some lawmakers. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, facing a tough primary, became the latest Republican to back skirting the 60-vote filibuster over the weekend.

RELATED: JUST IN: SAVE Act Clears Major Hurdle As Two Additional Senators Sign On

Trump is adding his own weight to the push. On Sunday, he praised Presler and vowed he would not sign any bill into law until the SAVE America Act reaches his desk. The White House later said Trump would make one exception for Department of Homeland Security funding.

Thune responded by signaling he hopes Trump leaves room for more exceptions if legislation is important enough, pointing specifically to a housing bill Senate Republicans want to move.

“I know he’s passionate about the SAVE America Act, and I think that his statement was an expression of that,” Thune said. “But I hope, at the end of the day, that if we can move things across the floor here and actually put legislation on his desk, that he’ll find his way to sign it.”

Trump has also urged House Republicans to add provisions dealing with mail ballots and transgender issues. Thune said it “would probably make sense” for the House to send a revised version to the Senate.

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