On Wednesday, the House of Representativespassedthe SAVE America Act by a margin of 218-213. The bill would require proof of citizenship to register to vote as well as photo ID to vote in federal elections. One Democrat, Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas, joined Republicans in voting for it, while one R and one D did not vote.

Sadly for anyone who values election integrity,Senate Republicans need 60 votes to pass it, and there "aren't anywhere close to the votes" according to Majority Leader John Thune (SD). Thune says he supports the SAVE Act, but he's not about to change the Senate rules to create a pathway to passing it - and that his position is widely supported among the Senate Republican Conference.

"It’s not just me not being willing to do it. There aren’t anywhere close to the votes, not even close, to nuking the filibuster," he said of a proposal tolower the threshold for advancing legislationto a simple majority by voting along partisan lines to establish new precedent - effectively changing the Senate's rules with what is known as "the nuclear option,"The Hillreports.

"We’re having a very robust conversation among our Senate Republican colleagues about the path forward. I think most are supporters … I certainly am — of the SAVE Act and what it attempts to accomplish," Thune told reporters following the meeting. "You ought to be able to prove that you’re a citizen of this country in order to be able to vote. How we get to that vote remains to be seen," he said.

According to Thune, however, the nuclear option "doesn’t have a future. Is there another way of getting there? We’ll see."

Meanwhile, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) is pushing for a 'standing filibuster'to try and pass it, and implored the Senate GOP conference on Tuesday to interpret the current Senate rules to require Democrats tocontinuously hold the floor with active debate to block the SAVE Act.

"Nothing in the Senate's an easy move," Lee said after the meeting. "This one's certainly not. But if we want to do this, this is how we have to go about it."

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY) toldFox Newsthat Republicans would continue to press the issue.

"To get on an airplane you need a photo ID. You want to buy a beer at a football game? You need a photo ID. Go to the library, you need a photo ID for just about everything," he said. "And now you see Democrats are demanding photo IDs to go to any meetings that they have, and we just saw that in Georgia."

Meanwhile,the vast majority of the Department of Homeland Security are set to shut down Saturdayunless lawmakers can strike a last-minute deal to fund the agency. Democrats have vowed to oppose any legislation that doesn't include restrictions onimmigration enforcement -and have provided a laundry list of demands after federal immigration agents killed two protesters last month in Minneapolis. The White House is reportedly open to some of the ideas, however,no agreement has been reachedby lawmakers.

Source: ZeroHedge News