Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he would bring the SAVE America Act to the Senate floor next week.
The act is backed by President Donald Trump and would require Americans to show proof of citizenship to register to vote and a valid ID in order to cast a ballot.
It recently passed the House in a 218-213 vote in February, but has been stalled in the Senate as Democrats argue it would violate voting rights.
Only one Democrat supported the measure in the House.
It would require some Democratic votes for it to pass and move to Trump’s desk to sign.
Thune is a backer of the legislation but has rejected calls from the likes of Elon Musk and online influencers to change the Senate filibuster rule to ensure passage to the upper chamber.
Thune argued that changing Senate procedure could have unintended consequences.
“I can’t guarantee an outcome on this legislation, but I can guarantee that we are going to put Democrats on the record,” Thune said.
Anticipating the bill’s failure, Republican Senator Mike Lee, who introduced the bill, alongside others have engaged in a pressure campaign to revert back to a “standing filibuster”, which would require dissenting members to actively hold the Senate floor to block legislation and could, in theory, allow for the passage of the bill with a simple 50-majority vote.
Republicans make up the majority of the Senate with 53 members to 47, and Democrats have vowed to oppose the bill.
While Trump is laser-focused on the 2026 midterm elections, he took to Truth Social to say it is an issue voters care about and said he will not sign any bills until the SAVE America Act is passed.
“It must be done immediately. It supersedes everything else,” he said.
Alongside the proof of ID and American citizenship, Trump also wants to end most mail-in voting altogether as part of the bill.
He said that the only people who are disabled, ill, serving in the military, or travelling should be allowed to vote absentee.
Trump also wants to ban transgender athletes from playing on sports teams that align with their gender identity and ban some transgender procedures for children.
Election experts said documented cases of voter fraud, especially by non-citizens, are exceedingly rare.
The right-leaning Heritage Foundation database found fewer than 100 instances of non-citizens improperly casting ballots between 2000 and 2025.
According to research from the Brennan Centre, more than 21 million otherwise eligible voters do not have easy access to the citizenship documents required.
