The Senate is preparing for a month-long recess with lots of unfinished business still on the books.
Among those items: The chamber has still not passed one of President Donald Trump’s priorities, the SAVE America Act.
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That said, the GOP majority has handed the president some decent wins before closing shop early Saturday for recess until Sept. 14.
The Senate on Friday confirmed a slate of President Trump’s nominees to senior positions across the Departments of Homeland Security, Transportation, and State, including the next administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
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By a 51-47 vote, senators approved 74 nominations.
Among them were Cameron Hamilton, confirmed as FEMA administrator, and Hal Duncan, confirmed as deputy director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.
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Hamilton previously served as acting FEMA administrator early in Trump’s second term before leaving the position after publicly stating that he did not believe the agency should be abolished.
He was later renominated following the departure of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem earlier this year.
The Senate also confirmed David Cummins, a senior vice president at Serco, to serve as administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
The SAVE America Act is a Republican-backed election integrity proposal strongly supported by Trump.
The legislation is designed to strengthen voter registration requirements by requiring individuals to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections.
Supporters argue the bill would help prevent noncitizens from registering or voting, improve confidence in the election system, and create more uniform standards for maintaining accurate voter rolls.
The legislation also includes provisions intended to encourage states to verify voter registration records using federal databases and to remove ineligible registrants when appropriate.
Trump has made passage of the SAVE America Act one of his top legislative priorities, describing it as a key component of his broader election integrity agenda.
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Republican supporters contend the measure protects the constitutional principle that only U.S. citizens may vote in federal elections.
Democrats and voting-rights organizations oppose the legislation, arguing that documented instances of noncitizen voting are rare and that requiring documentary proof of citizenship could make it more difficult for eligible Americans—particularly those who do not readily possess documents such as passports or birth certificates—to register and vote.
In fact, however, the Trump administration has found hundreds of thousands of non-citizens on voting rolls in recent months, even as Democrats and their allies in the mainstream media discount those findings.
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New Jersey Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill disclosed last month that a software error in the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission system led to the registration of roughly 6,600 non-U.S. citizens on voter rolls between June 2023 and June 2024 — a period that spanned the final years of the previous administration.
In a detailed statement released amid growing national scrutiny over election integrity, Sherrill said she only recently learned of the issue.
“Last week I learned that a serious software error in New Jersey’s Motor Vehicle System led to the registration of roughly 6,600 people who indicated that they were not U.S. citizens between June 2023 and June 2024, almost three years prior to my taking office,” Sherrill stated.
“These individuals answered ‘no’ when asked on a keypad whether they were a U.S. citizen when applying for drivers’ licenses and identification cards, but through no fault of their own, the system registered them anyway,” Sherrill added.
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But the software vendor, IDEMIA, stated it is not responsible for improperly registering those non-citizens.
The company has pushed back on Sherrill’s accusations, arguing that its role is only to transmit motor vehicle data, and that the New Jersey Division of Elections is ultimately responsible for validating and adjudicating voter eligibility.
This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.
