Chief of Staff Susie Wiles traveled to Capitol Hill to press Senate Republicans to advance the controversial SAVE America Act before the August recess. Meetings with leaders including John Thune and John Barrasso were candid but yielded no immediate progress, with senators saying the GOP lacks the votes. The White House is also raising the idea of ending the filibuster, while the bill's provisions—such as banning mail-in voting and requiring a birth certificate or passport to vote—have sparked intense debate.
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The White House dispatched Chief of Staff Susie Wiles — nicknamed the "Ice Maiden" — to Capitol Hill Wednesday in a high-stakes effort to rally Senate Republicans behind the controversial SAVE America Act ahead of the midterm recess.
Wiles held discussions with senior GOP senators, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senate GOP Whip John Barrasso, pressing them to advance the bill and other stalled priorities. A person familiar with the conversations told Politico via text that Wiles framed the meeting around multiple blocked items in the upper chamber: "A lot is stalled in the Senate. SAVE/reconciliation ... nominations ... what can we do?"
According to multiple sources, Wiles also raised the idea of ending the filibuster — a long-standing and politically divisive proposal favored by former President Donald Trump but repeatedly resisted by many senators. Sources said the stalled succession of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was not discussed during the meetings.
Those conversations were described as candid but produced no immediate breakthroughs. One source quoted Thune as saying, "I want to move the president's agenda whenever it has the votes," signaling that timetable and vote count remain the main obstacles.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had publicly pressed Thune last week, warning that the president's patience was "running out" on the SAVE Act. "He wants to see as much of the SAVE America Act passed by the August recess. He knows that's what the American people want to see passed," she said.
Thune responded that the GOP caucus currently lacks the necessary votes to meet that compressed timetable. If the White House pushes forward with Leavitt's suggested timeline, Senate Republicans would have roughly five business days to secure passage before the August recess — a window critics call unrealistic.
The SAVE America Act is widely viewed as a sweeping voter-restriction measure. Among its most contentious provisions are a ban on mail-in voting and new identity requirements that could force voters to present a birth certificate or passport to cast a ballot — changes opponents say would disproportionately affect vulnerable and rural voters.
One former Trump adviser told Politico, "You can't show how high the importance of this issue is to the president other than bringing in Susie. If there is an ability to land it, the president is certainly putting pressure on Susie to land it. It's still an uphill battle."
Wiles's visit appears aimed at defusing tensions and reinvigorating stalled negotiations, but the lack of immediate progress underscores the significant political and procedural hurdles the SAVE America Act still faces in the Senate.
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