Rep. Beth Van Duyne Says Confidence in Senate Leader John Thune Diminishes Amid Stalled Voting Bill

By Solange Reyner | Saturday, 29 August 2026 02:27 PM EDT
Rep. Beth Van Duyne said she is losing confidence in Senate Majority Leader John Thune as a House-passed elections bill sits idle, and laid out a crowded fall agenda for Republicans that starts with avoiding a government shutdown.

“Every day, you’re right, I seem to lose a little bit more faith in John Thune,” Van Duyne, R-Texas, said in recent remarks. “I’m hoping that won’t be the case. He’s still got a couple of weeks, a couple months to be able to do the right thing. Let’s just get it done.”

She said senators who oppose the SAVE America Act should have to defend that position publicly. “Let’s have people on the floor fighting to explain why they wouldn’t pass something that’s got an 80% approval rate,” Van Duyne stated.

The House passed the bill Feb. 16 with all 217 Republicans and one Democrat. It would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo identification at the polls. Van Duyne said the House has passed the measure four times.

In the Senate, the bill has 50 Republican supporters, with Sen. Susan Collins of Maine the most recent to sign on, but it needs 60 votes to advance. President Donald Trump has urged Republicans to scrap the filibuster to pass it. Thune has said the votes to do so are “not even close.”

Polling supports Van Duyne’s figure. A Gallup survey in October 2024 found 84% of Americans favored requiring photo identification to vote and 83% backed proof of citizenship for first-time registrants, including about two-thirds of Democrats.

Van Duyne acknowledged the law might not take effect in time for the midterms. “You could implement it. It just may not be able to affect the November election cycle,” she said. Election officials have warned that the requirements could not realistically be in place before November.

She dismissed concerns that the rules would burden voters. “This is not outside the realm of normalcy for Americans,” she said. “To act as if it’s some kind of massive problem that people are going to have to achieve just to be able to go vote is just a complete lie.”

Van Duyne said Congress also must pass a stopgap spending bill that includes money to replenish military munitions. Current funding expires Sept. 30. The Senate approved a stopgap 90-6 on Aug. 8 that would run through Dec. 11, but the House has not acted. A 43-day shutdown that ended in November was the longest in U.S. history.

She said she wants a reconciliation package carrying tax changes, including her bipartisan GROWTH Act, which would let mutual fund investors defer taxes on reinvested gains, along with a provision to index capital gains to inflation for long-held real estate. “People who have been in homes for decades … could actually sell their properties without having a massive tax bill,” she said, arguing it would free up housing supply.

The House passed its fiscal 2027 defense authorization in July; it is stalled in the Senate. A farm bill remains in the Senate Agriculture Committee.

“We’ve got our hands full in a very short period of time,” Van Duyne added.