Sen. Bill Hagerty said on Fox News that Democrats’ resistance to the Republican-backed SAVE America Act is tied to illegal immigration, arguing that voter ID and citizenship checks are broadly popular. Sen. Susan Collins said she supports the House-passed bill but only if Republicans do not try to weaken or eliminate the Senate filibuster—leaving the measure with a steep 60-vote hurdle.
On Sunday, Tennessee Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty appeared on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo to promote Republicans’ push for the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility—often referred to as the SAVE America Act.
During the interview, Hagerty argued that voter ID is widely supported, saying it is backed by “north of 80%” of the public and that “over 70% of Democrats” favor it, while contending that Senate Democrats would not support the bill.
Hagerty also pointed to Democrats’ earlier election-law push—often referred to as H.R. 1—as evidence of what he described as an effort to weaken voter ID rules nationwide. In the interview excerpt highlighted by The Daily Wire, he claimed Democrats sought changes that would “do away with voter ID across the nation,” allow 16-year-olds and felons to vote, and use taxpayer funding to support campaigns.
Hagerty then connected Democratic opposition to immigration, asserting that Democrats “flooded this country with tens of millions of illegal aliens” and suggesting that they want “chaos” in elections and “no voter ID.”
The House recently passed a version of the SAVE America Act on a near party-line vote, 218–213. The bill would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote—typically through documents such as a passport or birth certificate—and would also require photo identification before voting, according to reporting by The Associated Press.
In the Senate, Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins said she supports the House-passed version of the bill but conditioned her support on Republicans not trying to eliminate the filibuster. In a statement cited by The Daily Wire, Collins called voter ID a “simple reform” and said, “The law is clear that in this country only American citizens are eligible to vote in federal elections,” adding that identification requirements would improve election security and public confidence.
Even with a Republican majority, the bill’s prospects remain uncertain because most legislation in the Senate must clear a 60-vote threshold to advance, and Democrats have signaled they would use the filibuster to block the measure. A post dated February 15, 2026, from the Sunday Morning Futures account referenced Democrats vowing to filibuster the GOP-backed voter ID bill.
