The Trump administration plans to ramp up pressure on Senate Republicans to get the SAVE America Act after Donald Trump's prime-time speech last night focused almost entirely on election security. The White House has focused its messaging today on Trump's arguments last night, demanding action to correct the "vulnerabilities" that Trump presented from declassified intelligence.
Trump isn't waiting around for Congress to act, however. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin announced new restrictions on federal funding for states that don't act to clean up their voter rolls. Data available publicly, including some of the data Trump claimed China has used, shows at least 250,000 noncitizens on the rolls from four non-compliant states. Mullin warned that DHS will take steps to force a clean-up:
In just four states, 250,000 noncitizens are registered to vote, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Friday as he announced new measures to bolster election security.
The four states—California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Nevada—did not cooperate with the Trump administration in its review of voter information, but the Department of Homeland Security obtained the information from publicly available data, Mullin said.
The secretary said that in 23 states that have cooperated with the agency’s SAVE program, which helps determine voter eligibility, data show another 23,000 noncitizens and 400,000 dead people are registered to vote.
He said that states will need to work with DHS on ensuring voter eligibility if they wish to receive federal election grants.
How much funding will these states lose? It's tough to find data on the actual funds granted to states under the DHS SAVE program. California can use all the cash Gavin Newsom can get, of course, and any suspension will hurt. The attention to these failures may matter more than the money does, however, especially as the White House raises the temperature of the debate.
Karoline Leavitt, just returned from maternity leave, pushed the message hard this morning:
Why do all Democrats in Congress oppose commonsense photo ID and citizenship requirements to vote in American elections?
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) July 17, 2026
Republicans must pass the SAVE America Act! pic.twitter.com/K5cvGyRFyT
Once again, the White House is pushing their SAVE America fact sheet from March, noting the overwhelming popularity of voter ID and citizenship verification. The latest iteration of the Harvard-Harris CAPS poll shows that support has not wavered. It's a broad bipartisan consensus at 70/30, with a majority of Democrat voters supporting it:
House Republican Ronny Jackson offered an amusing comparison:
The Olive Garden Pasta Pass program is more secure than American elections.
— Ronny Jackson (@RonnyJacksonTX) July 17, 2026
The Senate MUST PASS the SAVE AMERICA ACT!!! https://t.co/4MysnjNl04
The Obama Presidential Library requires identification for entry, for that matter.
Expect a lot of pressure to get exerted on Senate Republicans to get the SAVE America Act through on the several avenues that House Republicans have already provided. Trump's speech makes clear that he plans to play hardball. In the meantime, Fox News reporter Chad Pergram asks a good question:
President Trump uses primetime speech to advocate passage of the SAVE America Act in Congress. Did he make any headway? My report:⁰⁰https://t.co/fuW4TWkhp7
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) July 17, 2026
Pergram really doesn't answer his own question in the linked segment, but Trump clearly intended to use his prime-time speech last night to make the case for his SAVE America Act package of election reforms. Trump barely mentioned the war with Iran and other priorities, and he even largely eschewed his claims to have had the 2020 election stolen. Instead, Trump focused his attention on "vulnerabilities" in the current system and the necessity to fix them, as David noted in his analysis this morning.
Prospects for approval remain slender, Fox News reports separately, even after the prime-time speech. House Republicans have already attempted to attach the SAVE America Act to must-pass legislation, which the Senate has not yet addressed. Speaker Mike Johnson wants to include it in a reconciliation bill that would bypass the filbuster in the upper chamber, but outgoing Senate Republican Thom Tillis has already said he'll oppose it:
House GOP leaders are scrambling to approve a sprawling budget reconciliation package packed with defense and election integrity priorities, but Republican lawmakers in both chambers are pouring cold water on the process.
The intraparty skepticism, including concerns over the lack of spending offsets, is throwing the ambitious timeline into doubt. And the move to attach the SAVE America Act to the process has already turned off some of its GOP opponents.
"If we keep on layering layers of complexity, like another bogus attempt at the SAVE Act, then we're never gonna get it done," Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said.
When asked if it included the legislation if he would vote "no," Tillis said, "Absolutely."
Unfortunately, Trump's feuds with a handful of Senate Republicans may keep grounding efforts to get the Save America Act passed and on his desk. Trump's speech raises the stakes for his opposition, especially within the GOP, but Trump has ensured that Tillis, John Cornyn, and Bill Cassidy have little to lose by throwing sand in the gears. Unless Trump can sweeten the pot – or limit the SAVE America Act to strictly voter-ID and citizenship validation – the speech may not move the needle.
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