Lindsey Graham’s Final Words Now Fueling New SAVE America Act Push

The late Senator Lindsey Graham may have just had a new item added to his legacy. The current efforts to pass and implement provisions of the SAVE America Act, which Graham supported, through what House Republicans are calling Reconciliation 3.0, may well have originated because of Sen. Graham's efforts, and now Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) is sounding an optimistic note, at last, on the chances of this happening. A New York Post exclusive published Thursday has those details.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told The Post that Republicans may finally have a viable strategy to pass the SAVE America Act and speculated on the breakthrough Sen. Lindsey Graham told President Trump about before his death.
Trump claimed on “Meet the Press” on Sunday that during his final phone call with Graham (R-SC), the late senator told him, “We’re all set for the SAVE America Act,” but the president didn’t specify how.
Republicans have repeatedly tried to jam the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to vote and other election reforms, through the Senate, but have consistently failed due to a Democratic filibuster. The SAVE America Act is Trump’s top legislative priority this year.
“Perhaps what Lindsey was talking to the president about — I don’t know this for a fact — [was] whether or not there was an option for reconciliation, and there is a way in which I think you could [do that],” Thune (R-SD) explained to The Post in an interview.

Reconciliation bypasses the filibuster rule's 60-vote threshold, which has stymied Republican efforts to get the SAVE America Act passed through the normal process. But reconciliation is only used in budgetary matters. But now, there may be a way around that.

Many senators had long cast doubt on the possibility of using reconciliation to advance the SAVE America Act because it doesn’t inherently impact the budget. But Republicans planned on attempting another reconciliation bill to beef up defense spending anyway.
“It’s got to be principally budgetary, not policy-oriented. And if the budgetary impact is incidental to the policy impact, then you know it’s usually ruled a violation,” Thune said, alluding to the Senate Parliamentarian. “I’m not denying there’s some level of subjectivity.”
“Figuring out a way to incentivize states to pass or to implement photo ID in their states through financial incentives is something that’s been talked about as a possible reconciliation option,” he added. “How you design or structure it matters a lot.”

This makes it sound like the plan would rely on financial incentives for the states to implement voter ID and proof of citizenship requirements.

‘Hard for Any Democrat to Win’: Top Dem Gives the Game Away on SAVE America Act

While this would be better than what we have now, it's still an incentive, not a law. The Constitution does authorize Congress to regulate election practices in Article 1, Section 4:

The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.

But we may well be at the "anything is better than nothing" stage, at least for now. The midterms are upon us; it may already be too late for states to change practices, even if the fiscal incentives hinted at by Senator Thune are put in place immediately. But at least things appear to be moving:

On Wednesday, the House Budget Committee rolled out a budget resolution for the measure, something that unlocks the reconciliation process once it has been adopted.
The $95 billion blueprint includes $60 billion for defense, $13 billion for intelligence, $12 billion in farm aid, and $10 billion in grants to advance elements of the SAVE America Act.

We'll see what happens next.

Still, if this works, it's a considerable note for the late Senator Graham to go out on. If his efforts lead to even a fiscal incentive for states to implement portions of the SAVE America Act, it's an improvement over what we have now - but sooner or later, the legislation will have to become law to enshrine this fully into American elections in every state. The full SAVE America Act remains the most important legislative item before this Congress, and if they don't get it done this term, there's no guarantee it will ever pass any possible future Congress.