Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday that Senate procedural rules are preventing Republicans from advancing the SAVE America Act's proof-of-citizenship requirements for voter registration, arguing that some GOP lawmakers are prioritizing chamber traditions over passing election legislation.
On "The Joe Rogan Experience," Vance said the Senate has enough support to approve the SAVE America Act's provisions if they could be considered under a simple majority vote rather than the chamber's 60-vote threshold for most legislation.
"We actually have, I think, a majority of the Senate that would support it, but this is just weird Senate procedural [expletive]," Vance said.
The vice president said a group of senators supports voter identification requirements but opposes changing or circumventing the Senate's legislative filibuster rules to enact them.
"There is a subsegment of people who want voter ID [requirements] but won't blow up the filibuster in order to achieve it," Vance said. "They're so married to these Old World Senate procedures that they're going to make it impossible for us to pass" the SAVE America Act.
The SAVE America Act, backed by Republicans, would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. Supporters say the measure is needed to ensure election integrity, while some Democrats and voting rights advocates argue it could make voter registration more difficult for some eligible Americans.
Vance said the administration is working with senators to find a procedural path that would allow the voter ID provisions to pass with a simple majority through budget reconciliation.
"We are, for what it's worth, trying to fix that and trying to address these weird procedural archaic things," he said. "It's insane."
Vance described the Senate filibuster as an internal procedural rule rather than a constitutional requirement.
He said budget-related legislation can pass with 51 votes under reconciliation, while most other bills require 60 votes to overcome a filibuster.
Vance acknowledged there is debate over what qualifies as budget-related legislation and said the administration has urged senators to classify voter ID provisions in a way that would allow them to be considered under the lower vote threshold.
"What we have tried to persuade the Senate to do is to treat the voter ID as something that can fall within the 50-vote threshold," Vance said.
"There is no law. There's no provision in the Constitution," he added. "There are senators who are so attached to the idea that budget is 50, nonbudget is 60, that they're quite literally willing to prevent voter ID in America."