{"id":32183,"date":"2026-08-08T09:43:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:43:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=32183"},"modified":"2026-08-08T09:43:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:43:06","slug":"senate-republicans-reach-deal-to-delay-budget-and-part-of-save-america-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=32183","title":{"rendered":"Senate Republicans reach deal to delay budget and part of SAVE America Act"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/thunejohn_080426nk08_w.jpg?w=900\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n        <iframe id=\"instaread_iframe\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Audio Article\" style=\"display:block\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\"><\/iframe>\n    <\/p>\n<p><\/instaread-player><\/p>\n<p>Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), President Trump and Senate conservatives reached a deal Friday night to set aside a vote on a budget resolution and defer action on much of the SAVE America Act until after the August recess, settling a fight that had divided Senate Republicans for weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Conservative Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) emerged from Thune\u2019s office in the Capitol after speaking with Trump and holding a two-hour conference meeting with GOP colleagues, and told reporters they had reached an agreement.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>They said that there\u2019s now consensus within the conference to postpone action on a Senate budget resolution that would serve as a blueprint for a reconciliation bill until after the August recess and to vote immediately on a key element of the SAVE America Act \u2014 the requirement that voters show photo identification in federal elections.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson, Lee and Scott, who have called on Senate GOP colleagues to cancel the August recess to debate and attempt to pass the full SAVE America Act, acknowledged they didn\u2019t have the votes to advance that bill anytime soon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had about a two-hour conference meeting, trying to figure out what we need to do to come to an agreement to accomplish what the president wanted,\u201d Johnson said, acknowledging that the proposed budget resolution may have failed on the Senate floor because of a lack of enough Republican support.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was a concern whether or not it could actually pass, the budget resolution, tonight,\u201d he said, noting that some colleagues wanted substantially more funding for the Pentagon than the $73 billion proposed in a <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/house\/5984069-house-approves-budget-reconciliation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">House-passed budget resolution<\/a>. The budget resolution would serve as a blueprint for a party-line reconciliation bill Republicans aim to pass without needing Democratic support.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s certainly concern in terms of the need for our military. When the finest among us are in harm\u2019s way, is it really enough?\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThe conclusion of the conference and then we had the discussion with the president, he agrees, don\u2019t take the vote tonight. Just work diligently through August and September to do an actually better budget reconciliation bill.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re all satisfied with that. So, we\u2019re not going to vote on budget resolution tonight and really work hard tonight,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>The conservative leaders say they\u2019re also \u201chopeful\u201d on finding a way to vote soon on a continuing resolution to fund the government through Dec. 11 and to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general. Republicans had spent much of Friday <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/senate\/6017663-senate-nil-bill-funding-blanche-recess\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">searching for a deal<\/a> to accelerate the timeframe for passing both priorities.<\/p>\n<p>Lee indicated that he would not force Republican colleagues to vote on a politically sensitive adjournment resolution in order to embark on a five-week recess because he was satisfied with an emerging agreement to vote instead on a bill sponsored by Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) to require voters to show photo identification in federal elections.<\/p>\n<p>Lee said \u201cof course\u201d he\u2019s disappointed that the SAVE America Act won\u2019t pass anytime soon but acknowledged \u201cwe\u2019re not in a position right now where we have the wherewithal to pass it right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr3_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cBut we are going to vote on a handful of things, including the Husted measure with photo ID, which is about half of what the SAVE America Act is,\u201d Lee said. \u201cThat will give us some indication of where we stand.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVoter ID is a major component of SAVE America,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Democrats defeated Husted\u2019s proposal to require voters to show voter identification in a 53-47 vote when he offered it as an amendment on Senate floor in March. The vote came during a lengthy debate on the SAVE America Act, which Senate Democrats have repeatedly blocked.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr4_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Democrats voted against Husted\u2019s amendment in March despite Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer\u2019s (N.Y.) claim that Democrats support photo ID requirements for elections.<\/p>\n<p>Schumer told reporters in a March 15 press call that Democrats included a voter ID provision in their Freedom to Vote Act, which they introduced in 2021 when they controlled the Senate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDemocrats support voter ID. In fact, we included it and it is included in our Freedom to Vote legislation several years ago. So, we\u2019re not opposed,\u201d Schumer said.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr5_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Lee said conservatives want to put Democrats on the record on the issue once again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve got many Democrats who\u2019ve said, \u2018I\u2019m just fine with voter ID.\u2019\u201d Lee said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to find out where they are on that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnson said Trump signed off on the plan to wrap up the Senate\u2019s work before the August recess.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr6_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re in total agreement. There\u2019s no argument about it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The Senate has already voted five times on the SAVE America Act or major elements of it but have failed to entice enough Democrats to overcome the 60-vote threshold for ending a filibuster.<\/p>\n<p>Thune has repeatedly said that Senate Republicans don\u2019t have the votes to abolish the filibuster to pass election reform legislation, as Trump has demanded. \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), President Trump and Senate conservatives reached a deal Friday night to set aside a vote on a budget resolution and defer action on much of the SAVE America Act until after the August recess, settling a fight that had divided Senate Republicans for weeks. Conservative Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.),&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/thunejohn_080426nk08_w.jpg?w=1280","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}