After repeatedly hitting procedural dead ends in their attempt to get around the filibuster, President Donald Trump and his MAGA loyalists in the Senate now want to blow it up completely to pass the SAVE America Act.
“When is ‘enough, enough’ for our Republican Senators. There comes a time when you must do what should have been done a long time ago, and something which the Lunatic Democrats will do on day one, if they ever get the chance,” Trump posted on Truth Social Thursday. “TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER and get our airports, and everything else, moving again. Also, add the complete, all five items, SAVE AMERICA ACT items. Go for the Gold! ! !”
Trump reiterated his “TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER” demands in additional posts Thursday morning and also shared an op-ed by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) decrying the Senate’s inability to pass legislation and concluding that the end of the filibuster is a change he is “ willing to make.”
For the last ten days, the Senate has debated the SAVE America Act, which would require voters to show documentary proof of citizenship — like a U.S. passport or birth certificate — when they register and show voter ID when they cast ballots.
The half-hearted attempt at forcing Democrats to engage in a so-called “talking filibuster” to block the bill — requiring that opponents actually hold the floor and speak against it to prevent a vote, as opposed to the usual Senate practice of noting there aren’t 60 votes to invoke cloture to end debate — has faltered. Democrats have shown no signs of relenting, while Senate Republican leaders are far more focused on passing a funding bill to end the now 40-day shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Trump, however, has called the SAVE America Act his “No. 1 priority,” and repeatedly sworn to not sign other legislation until it passes. Senate Republicans and the White House seemed to agree on a new strategy earlier this week — attempting to use reconciliation to pass some of the bill’s provisions — but Democrats and GOP hardliners alike have come out hard against it.
While reconciliation allows the Senate to pass legislation with just a simple majority, the proposals must be budgetary in nature. Even if the SAVE America Act’s dictates were turned into conditions on federal grants, it’s unlikely that they would qualify under the Senate’s rules.
That’s led to the bill’s most vociferous online cheerleaders to excoriate the reconciliation proposal as little more than political grandstanding.
“If these Senators truly believe the Save America Act is important enough to justify bypassing the 60-vote threshold and passing via reconciliation, then their stated opposition to doing so by eliminating the filibuster on principle rings hollow,” Caroline Wren, a former Trump campaign fundraiser, tweeted.
Meanwhile, the Senate is scheduled to begin a two week recess for Easter this weekend, and some Republicans are resisting calls to cancel it to continue work on DHS funding and the SAVE America Act.
So now Trump and some of his allies are returning to square one, saying it’s time to bust up the filibuster so Republicans can pass the voter suppression measure.
But Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has repeatedly shot down proposals to gut the filibuster, saying the idea would be a GOP own goal. “Throughout history, it’s protected Republicans and conservative priorities and principles a lot more often than it’s protected Democrats,” Thune said to reporters earlier this month.
Other Republican senators have publicly backed Thune on this point. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) supports the SAVE America Act but has said it’s not worth sacrificing the filibuster. Retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who has lambasted the lengthy floor debate on the SAVE America Act as a waste of time, has similarly warned that killing the filibuster would be bad for Republicans.
Moreover, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) opposes the bill outright, saying the documentary proof of citizenship requirements on registration would wreak havoc on remote Alaskan voters. And former Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) refused to kill the filibuster to pass legislation he actually liked, so he’s unlikely to do so here for a bill he dislikes.
The bill, which passed the House in February, would force states to turn over sensitive registration records to the Department of Homeland Security and conduct monthly purges of their voter rolls. Trump has also demanded the measure include bans on universal mail-in ballots, trans athletes in women’s sports and gender-affirming care.
The SAVE America Act’s proponents argue it’s needed to ensure noncitizens cannot vote, even though there is no evidence of unnaturalized immigrants intentionally casting ballots in significant numbers. Meanwhile, opponents note that the millions of voters who lack easy access to a passport or birth certificate for providing DPOC could be disenfranchised if it’s enacted. The legislation would also cause headaches for tens of millions of voters when they update their registrations and tax already overburdened election administrators.
