Trump-Backed SAVE America Act Moves Closer To Passage
Senate Republicans have struggled to advance President Donald Trump’s voter ID and citizenship verification legislation.
However, a late-night vote in the chamber revived a proposal many had considered all but dead.
During the Senate’s marathon vote-a-rama on the GOP’s $70 billion immigration enforcement package, Republicans made two attempts to attach the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act to the broader measure.
Both efforts fell short, as a group of Republicans joined Senate Democrats in opposing the amendments offered by Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Mike Lee of Utah.
The proposals faced steep odds regardless, as they needed to overcome the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster threshold to advance.
Graham’s amendment sought to attach a revised version of the SAVE America Act that included several additional policy provisions, including a ban on biological males competing in women’s sports, a measure Trump had pushed for months.
Four Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina — voted against the proposal.
Their opposition kept the amendment from reaching the 50-vote threshold Republicans would have needed to pursue a talking filibuster strategy.
Lee’s separate amendment, however, did secure 50 votes after Collins switched her position and backed the original version of the SAVE America Act.
As the vote-a-rama continued, Lee celebrated the result on X, noting that with Vice President JD Vance available to cast a tie-breaking vote, the SAVE America Act would have enough support to pass the Senate, Fox News reported.
“That means that but for the Zombie Filibuster, the House-passed SAVE America Act would now be on its way to the White House for President Trump’s signature,” Lee said.
Lee and some other Republicans have been leaning on Senate Majority Leader John Thune to launch a talking filibuster to grind down Democrats and advance the measure by a simple majority vote.
Thune has, so far, refused to do that, sparking fury from allies of the president.
He has said he didn’t believe Republicans would hold together to repel a deluge of Democratic amendments that could substantially alter the legislation or target other agenda items important to Trump.
Senate Republicans previously mounted a lengthy floor effort in March to force debate on the SAVE America Act, but momentum behind the legislation has waned considerably in the months since.
That is especially true now that two members – Tillis and McConnell – are retiring, and another GOP senator, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who voted to impeach Trump following the Jan. 6 riot, lost his primary.
Another path forward would be eliminating the legislative filibuster altogether, a move Trump has periodically urged Republicans to pursue during his second term.
That option remains deeply divisive within the GOP conference.
Several Republican senators have warned that weakening or abolishing the filibuster could backfire if Democrats eventually regain control of the Senate and use the precedent to advance their own legislative priorities.
But conservatives argue Democrats have repeatedly pledged to do just that if they regain control of the chamber.
They add that, based on Democrats’ threats, Republicans should just end the rule now and push their agenda through, which they say would include the SAVE Act and make it harder for Democrats to win again.
Trump has also directed criticism at Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, whose ruling determined that the SAVE America Act did not qualify for inclusion in the immigration package under the Senate’s budget reconciliation rules, which allow passage by a simple majority vote.
In response, Trump has repeatedly urged Senate Majority Leader John Thune to remove MacDonough from her position.
“We have every right to change her, and should do so, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump said on Truth Social. “As long as she’s there, we will never get our desperately needed, SAVE AMERICA ACT, approved, and put into full force and effect!”
Trump Admin Says It Uncovered $10 Billion Obamacare Fraud Scheme
The Trump administration says it has uncovered what it describes as a massive fraud scheme within the Affordable Care Act.
Members of Trump’s administration allege that roughly $10 billion in taxpayer money was improperly paid out between 2021 and 2024 because of weakened enrollment safeguards under former President Joe Biden.
According to a Department of Health and Human Services report, officials have already removed nearly three million fraudulent or improper Obamacare enrollments and estimate another 2.6 million questionable enrollments remain.
Administration officials say the findings are part of a broader government-wide effort to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse across federal programs.
The report traces the alleged problems to changes made during the Biden administration that expanded enrollment opportunities while relaxing income verification and eligibility checks.
At the start of Biden’s presidency, approximately 10 million people were enrolled through the Affordable Care Act exchanges. By 2024, enrollment had surged to roughly 22 million.
Federal investigators now believe millions of those enrollments were improper, fraudulent, or created without the knowledge of the individuals involved.
“By our estimate, improper, phantom, and fraudulent enrollment peaked at 5.6 million people in 2025,” the report states.
“We estimate 2.6 million improper and phantom enrollments remain, including over 1 million enrollments without a Social Security number.”
According to the report, several different forms of abuse contributed to the alleged fraud.
Officials say some applicants intentionally understated their income to qualify for larger taxpayer-funded subsidies.
Others allegedly received premium assistance despite failing to meet eligibility requirements.
Investigators also identified what they describe as “phantom enrollments,” in which insurance brokers allegedly enrolled people in Obamacare plans without their knowledge to collect federal commissions.
The report argues that reduced verification requirements made those practices significantly easier to carry out.
Since taking office, the Trump administration says it has restored stricter income verification requirements, ended several special enrollment periods, increased screening for duplicate Medicaid enrollment, and launched investigations into brokers suspected of creating phantom policies.
Officials also say they have strengthened oversight of agents participating in the federal marketplace.
As a result of those efforts, nearly three million enrollments have already been removed from the Affordable Care Act exchanges.
Even after those removals, approximately 19.2 million people remain enrolled.
The administration says its goal is not to reduce legitimate coverage but to ensure taxpayer dollars are being spent only on individuals who actually qualify.
“Preserving the fiscal and programmatic integrity of the ACA Exchanges is key to safeguarding taxpayer-funded resources for those that truly need them,” the report states.
“The federal government paying brokers to enroll individuals without their knowledge is not.”
The report also says the administration will continue pursuing additional enforcement actions against brokers and others accused of exploiting the program.
“The Trump Administration continues to aggressively root out fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption by promulgating new regulations to improve program integrity, investigating suspected improper or fraudulent enrollment, and taking action against agents and brokers committing fraud.”
The findings are likely to reignite debate over the Affordable Care Act and how aggressively eligibility rules should be enforced.
Supporters of the administration argue the report demonstrates that stricter oversight is necessary to protect taxpayers and preserve benefits for those legally entitled to receive them.
Critics of previous verification rollbacks have long warned that loosening enrollment safeguards could increase improper payments and fraud, while supporters of the Biden-era policies argued the changes made healthcare more accessible to eligible Americans, Fox News reported exclusively.
The administration says its investigations remain ongoing, with an estimated 2.6 million additional enrollments still under review as officials continue auditing the federal health insurance exchanges.
Trump has been pushing to replace Obamacare for over a decade, and this may give Republicans enough motivation to actually do something.
