The U.S. Senate has started debating an elections bill that would put in place strict new voting rules, including a requirement to show photo identification, to cast a ballot in federal elections.

Discussion on the SAVE America Act is expected to stretch at least into the weekend. The bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives last month.

While its prospects in the Senate are dimmer due to Democratic opposition, President Donald Trump is pressuring Republicans to find a path to passage, and has threatened to not sign any other bills in the interim.

Here are a few things to know about the proposal, and how it would impact Maine.

What is the SAVE America Act?

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act, is a Republican proposal on voter identification requirements that has been pushed by Trump.

The bill, which passed the House of Representatives 218-213 in February, is now before the Senate.

The SAVE America Act would require people to provide proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote, and photo identification in order to vote, in federal elections.

It also would add new requirements around voting by mail, stipulating that a voter must submit a copy of their photo identification when submitting a ballot by any method other than in-person.

The proposal also requires states to submit voter data to the federal government for the purpose of ensuring noncitizens are eliminated from voter rolls.

How is this different from current voting laws?

It is already against federal law for noncitizens to vote in U.S. elections, though it is currently up to states to enforce the law. All states require new voters to attest to their citizenship when they register, though few collect and document proof of citizenship, as the SAVE America Act would require them to do, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

States also set their own requirements around voter identification, while the bill would put in place strict photo ID requirements for federal elections across the country. Thirty-six states currently have laws requesting or requiring voters to show some form of identification, according to NCSL.

Maine is one of 14 states that doesn’t require identification to cast a ballot, though proof of identification and residency is required when registering to vote. In November, Maine voters rejected by a margin of 64% to 36% a citizens initiative to require photo identification at the polls and make changes to absentee voting.

What are the biggest arguments for and against?

During Senate debate Wednesday, Republicans said the bill would safeguard against fraud and abuse in the election system. Although research has shown that voter fraud is exceedingly rare, Republican senators said more could be done. They called the proposal common sense.

Sen. John Barrasso, R-WY, pointed to a recent arrest by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security of a noncitizen in Pennsylvania who has been accused of illegally voting in seven federal elections since 2008. “That’s fraud,” Barrasso said. “It’s a federal crime and it happens over and over and over again. The Democrats enable it.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, accused Republicans of wasting time on a “voter suppression bill that … appeals to only the most fringe element of the MAGA base.”

Schumer said the bill goes beyond simply requiring voter identification because of its provisions about voter data. Schumer said a test run in Missouri of the same algorithm that would be used by the federal government to eliminate noncitizens from the voter rolls resulted in American citizens being purged.

“It’s all based on one fact: that Donald Trump has lied that our elections are rife with voter fraud,” Schumer said. “We know that’s bull.”

Would this impact state and local elections?

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat running for governor, said the new registration requirements would be burdensome for Maine voters. This would be especially true in rural areas, where people who don’t have a passport or easy access to their birth certificate would face long travel times in order to get the necessary documentation, she said.

For married women who have changed their last names, it could be especially hard to prove citizenship if the name on a birth certificate does not match the name on other forms of ID, Bellows said.

And while the law would only require photo identification to cast a ballot in federal races, it would effectively require photo ID for many state races as well, since state and federal races are typically on the same ballot in Maine, she said.

Where does Maine’s delegation stand?

Both Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, and Rep. Jared Golden, D-2nd District, voted against the bill in the House. Pingree said in an interview Wednesday the SAVE America Act should be called the “Anti-Women Act” because of the disproportionate impact on married women.

“I think overall the SAVE Act is outrageous and a huge detriment to people voting,” Pingree said.

Golden said in a statement that while he continues to support a bill that he voted for last year to require proof of citizenship at registration, the current proposal “is a completely different bill, which contains provisions that I have long opposed, such as limits on absentee voting and a requirement to show ID at the polls on election day.”

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, supports the bill.

“Having people provide an ID at the polls, just as they have to do before boarding an airplane, checking into a hotel, or buying an alcoholic beverage, is a simple reform that will improve the security of our federal elections and will help give people more confidence in the results,” Collins said after the House passed it.

In an op-ed in The Bulwark Monday, Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said the proposal is based on the false premise that fraud is widespread, and would put up unnecessary barriers to voting.

“The SAVE Act is a solution in search of a problem,” King said in an interview Wednesday. “The whole premise of the SAVE Act is phony.”

How likely is it to pass?

Debate on the SAVE America Act is expected to stretch at least into next week. With Democrats widely opposed to the proposal, Majority Leader John Thune, R-SD, has said the votes aren’t there to send the measure to final consideration with the 60 votes needed to avoid a potential Democratic filibuster.

Some Republicans have called for ending the filibuster in order to pass the bill — a move that would represent a radical change to the way business is done in the Senate. Others have proposed a “talking filibuster,” a rare procedural move that would mean allowing debate to run out — a process that could take weeks — in order to get to a vote. But that route would also halt work on other business, and Thune has said he doesn’t plan to pursue it.

Staff Writer Joe Lawlor contributed to this story.