2026年3月20日 美国东部时间上午5:00 / 福克斯新闻
福克斯独家消息： 参议院共和党人对参议院民主党人在选民身份法案问题上的立场发起考验，尽管这可能并非许多人期望的结果，但参议院多数党领袖、南达科他州共和党人约翰·图恩（John Thune）辩称这是唯一可行的前进路径。
图恩受到了总统唐纳德·特朗普（Donald Trump）、参议院共和党同僚以及狂热的保守派网络的压力，他们要求他启动”冗长辩论”（talking filibuster）以通过《保护美国选民资格（SAVE）法案》。
但图恩认为，这一程序性策略从未被证明能成功通过立法。
[共和党人在参议院马拉松辩论拉开帷幕之际表明不会在《SAVE法案》问题上退缩]
参议院多数党领袖、南达科他州共和党人约翰·图恩（John Thune）回击了要求他和共和党人启动冗长辩论的外部压力，并告诉福克斯新闻数字版：”没人真正知道这会如何收场，那些声称知道的人其实并不清楚。”(Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“没人真正知道这会如何收场，那些声称知道的人其实并不清楚。”图恩在接受福克斯新闻数字版采访时表示，”因为这从未有人成功做到过，至少在现代历史上没有先例。”
冗长辩论的支持者认为，这是突破参议院60票阻挠议事门槛、确保《SAVE美国法案》通过的方法。但这需要付出高昂代价——消耗参议院最宝贵的资源：议事时间。在政府持续停摆期间，议员们显然不愿放弃这一资源。
图恩补充道，参议院民主党人在过去（前参议院多数党领袖、内华达州民主党人哈里·里德（Harry Reid）和现任少数党领袖、纽约州民主党人查克·舒默（Chuck Schumer）任内）也曾考虑过这一策略，但”两次都选择了放弃，因为我认为他们觉得我们要求他们付出的代价不值得他们试图达成的目标”。
[共和党触发参议院马拉松式斗争，揭露民主党对特朗普支持的选民身份法案的反对]
唐纳德·特朗普总统在白宫椭圆形办公室与爱尔兰总理米歇ál·马丁（Micheál Martin）会面时回答记者提问，这是3月17日（周二）圣帕特里克节当天在华盛顿拍摄的。(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
“如果我看到任何可能的路径，哪怕只是小概率的成功机会，我都会更倾向于尝试。”图恩表示，”但我们研究了所有可能性，分析了各种情况，模拟了议事流程，查阅了历史记录，却找不到任何现代参议院历史上冗长辩论成功通过法案的案例。”
相反，图恩和参议院共和党人采取了一种改良版冗长辩论：允许无限制辩论，但阻止民主党人提出可能大幅修改法案且共和党无法以票数否决的修正案。
这并非图恩单方面的决定。他的领导风格（帮助他获得参议院共和党领袖地位）倾向于避免独断决策，而是让共和党人共同协商达成共识。
[参议院共和党人在SAVE法案即将失败之际考虑责任归咎策略]
犹他州共和党参议员迈克·李（Mike Lee）是该法案的主要提案人，他决心确保参议院继续辩论该法案直至”它该死地通过为止”。(Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
尽管如此，仍有批评者对共和党人的方案不满，认为它没有降低法案通过的门槛。但来自各方的压力未能迫使图恩让步，启动冗长辩论。
“我认为有一种领导理念认为，领导者的首要职责是定义现实，所以我努力弄清楚什么是可实现的。”图恩表示，”有很多人过度承诺，对我们能达成的目标制造了虚假期望。”
共和党人的计划已促使参议院连续三天就《SAVE美国法案》展开辩论，试图迫使民主党人反对该法案。辩论何时结束仍悬而未决。
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该法案的主要提案人、犹他州共和党参议员迈克·李（Mike Lee）等人希望参议院”不惜一切代价”继续辩论该法案，直至民主党人让步。
“如果我们还没达到目标，就需要继续辩论。”李参议员表示。
亚历克斯·米勒（Alex Miller）是福克斯新闻数字版负责报道美国参议院的记者。
Thune accuses critics of ‘creating false expectations’ amid backlash over stalled SAVE America Act
March 20, 2026 5:00am EDT / Fox News
FIRST ON FOX: Senate Republicans launched a test of Senate Democrats’ resolve against voter ID legislation, and while it may not look like what many wanted, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., argued it was the only path forward.
Thune has been pressured by President Donald Trump, a cohort in the Senate GOP, and a fervent online network of conservatives demanding that he activate the talking filibuster to pass the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act.
But it’s a floor tactic that Thune argued has never proven successful in passing legislation.
[REPUBLICANS SIGNAL NO RETREAT ON SAVE ACT AS MARATHON SENATE DEBATE KICKS OFF]
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., pushed back against the external pressure for him and Republicans to launch the talking filibuster, and told Fox News Digital, “Nobody really knows how this ends, and the people who are out there saying they do, don’t.”(Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“Nobody really knows how this ends, and the people who are out there saying they do, don’t,” Thune told Fox News Digital in an interview. “Because it’s never been done, or at least hasn’t been done in modern history.”
Proponents of the talking filibuster view it as a method to blow through the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster threshold and ensure that the SAVE America Act is passed. But it comes at the steep price of the upper chamber’s most valuable currency — floor time — which, during an ongoing shutdown, is not something lawmakers would want to give up.
Thune added that Senate Democrats have also considered the move in the past under former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and noted that they “opted against it in both cases because I think they felt like the price that we would make them pay wasn’t worth whatever it was they were trying to get done.”
[GOP TRIGGERS MARATHON SENATE FIGHT TO EXPOSE DEMS’ OPPOSITION TO TRUMP-BACKED VOTER ID BILL]
President Donald Trump takes questions from reporters during a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin in the Oval Office of the White House, on St. Patrick’s Day, Tuesday, March 17, 2026, in Washington.(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
“If I saw a pathway, even if it was a small-percentage pathway of getting an outcome, I’d be more inclined to do it,” Thune said. “But we looked at it, ran all the contingencies, gamed it out, mapped it out, what it would look like on the floor, did the research, studied the history, and couldn’t find a single example in modern Senate history where a talking filibuster actually led to a piece of legislation passing.”
Instead, Thune and Senate Republicans are doing a version of the talking filibuster that does allow for unlimited debate but prevents an unlimited number of amendments from Senate Democrats that would drastically alter the bill and that Republicans know they don’t have the votes to kill.
It’s not a move he made on his own, either. The nature of Thune’s leadership style, which helped secure him the top spot in the Senate GOP, is to avoid unilateral decision-making and instead allow Republicans to come to an agreement on a plan.
[SENATE GOP EYES BLAME GAME AS TRUMP-BACKED SAVE ACT HEADS FOR DEFEAT]
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, was determined to make sure the Senate continued to debate his voter ID bill until it “damn well passes.”(Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Still, there are critics who are unhappy with the plan Republicans landed on given that it doesn’t lower the threshold to pass the bill. But the pressure Thune felt from all sides wasn’t enough to make him cave and pull the trigger on the talking filibuster.
“I think there’s a sort of a leadership guru who, one of his main points is, the first responsibility of a leader is to define reality, and so I try and figure out what’s achievable,” he said. “And there are a lot of folks out there who are over-promising and creating false expectations about what we can get done here.”
Republicans’ plan has seen the Senate engage in three straight days of debate on the SAVE America Act in a bid to force Senate Democrats to argue against the legislation. When that debate comes to an end is still in the air.
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Some, like Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who is the lead sponsor of the bill, want the Senate to spend time on the bill for “as long as it takes” to wear down Senate Democrats.
“And if we’re not there yet, we need to continue debating it,” Lee said.
Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.
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