Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Wednesday confirmed that the Republican conference was not unified on the prospect of using the talking filibuster to pass the SAVE Act and that he preferred to resolve the ongoing shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) before committing to such a move.

"The talking filibuster issue is one on which there is not certainly a unified Republican conference, and there would have to be," he insisted, highlighting that keeping the conference unified on shutting down any amendments would be difficult.

He also asserted that he preferred to end the partial government shutdown before moving onto the SAVE Act.

"If we were to go down that route, it's very hard to pivot and get back to open up the government," he said. "We've got a housing bill that we can pivot back and forth to if we get a deal to open up the government. That's harder to do once you're in the throes of a talking filibuster."

The senator also confirmed on Fox News Wednesday morning that he does intend to bring the SAVE America Act up for a vote in order to put Democrats on record.

"We’ll put the Democrats on the record," Thune said. "It’s a stark contrast — the Democrats, even in the chamber last night, having to sit there and try and defend allowing non-citizens to vote in American elections. That is a losing proposition for them ... In due time, we will get that up on the floor. We will have a vote on it."

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent at Just the News. Follow him on X.