South Dakota Republicans vote down a resolution to censure John Thune over the stalled SAVE America Act

South Dakota Republican delegates voted down a resolution on Friday that would have formally censured Senate Majority Leader John Thune over the stalled SAVE America Act. The measure had cleared the state party's resolutions committee. It then failed on a voice vote before the full convention in Rapid City on Friday, June 26.

The resolution asked the party to censure Thune, a South Dakota Republican, "until such time as the SAVE America Act is officially signed into law." It put the blame for the bill's failure on him. "His failure in regards to the SAVE America Act is his most glaring, and can not be ignored," the resolution said, according to the filing posted on the state party's convention site. The document described the Senate's inaction as "unacceptable" and called Thune a "roadblock" to President Donald Trump's agenda.

Delegates who opposed the censure said it would only help Democrats, according to reporting from the convention floor. The measure passed the resolutions committee before the full convention rejected it.

What the bill would do

The SAVE America Act would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. Supporters, including Trump, describe it as a safeguard against noncitizen voting. Critics say it would create obstacles for eligible voters who do not have quick access to a passport or birth certificate, and they note that voting by noncitizens is already illegal and that documented cases are rare.

The Senate math

The bill does not have the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster in the Senate, and Thune has declined to back a rules change that would let it pass by a simple majority. "We don't have the votes, either to proceed to a talking filibuster nor to sustain one if we got one," Thune said last week. "That's just a function of math. There isn't anything I can do about that."

Trump has pressed Senate Republicans to move the bill. This week he canceled a planned signing ceremony for a bipartisan housing bill and tied it to the SAVE Act. "Today's Housing News Conference and Signing is hereby cancelled until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency," Trump wrote, in remarks reported by Democracy Docket.

The censure push followed criticism of Thune from some of Trump's allies. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky said Thursday that Republicans were wasting their majority by not passing the bill, the Washington Examiner reported.

The resolution's defeat leaves Thune without a formal rebuke from his home-state party. The SAVE America Act remains stalled in the Senate.