Gridlock in Congress: House Republicans Threaten To Jam Senate If Lawmakers Fail To Take Up Trump’s Voter ID Law

A small but growing number of House Republicans are beginning to levy threats against their Senate GOP colleagues, saying that they will not support any Senate-passed legislation until the upper chamber passes the SAVE America Act. Republican senators have said taking a different procedural approach to pass the bill at a simple-majority threshold will not work. The SAVE America Act, which President Trump has been pushing for weeks, includes a requirement that Americans prove their citizenship before voting and that they show photo identification when going to vote. The House narrowly passed the bill last month. On Tuesday, the majority leader, Senator John Thune, announced that the Senate could not move forward to a simple-majority vote. To do so, Republicans would have to invoke the “talking filibuster,” which would force Democrats to debate the bill on the floor, but would also hand them a great deal of power over what kind of amendments are added to the bill and for how long they are debated. Mr. Thune says he does not have the votes to open the floor in that way, as it would essentially halt all other Senate work for weeks or even months. “We don’t have the votes either to proceed — get on — a talking filibuster, nor to sustain one if we got on it. That is just a function of math and there isn’t anything I can do about that,” Mr. Thune said at a press conference. In response, some House Republicans are aiming to put maximum pressure on senators who are refusing to get on board with a talking filibuster. “As long as the Senate refuses to pass the SAVE America Act, why should I vote for any bill the Senate sends over to the House?” Congressman Brandon Gill, a conservative from Texas, wrote on X Thursday. “We can’t save America unless the Senate passes the SAVE America Act,” he wrote in another post. On Wednesday, three GOP lawmakers said they will not vote for a single Senate-passed bill that comes to the House unless the SAVE America Act is passed first. In an op-ed for Fox News digital, Congressmen Keith Self, Randy Fine, and Mark Harris announced their new campaign against Senate Republicans. “Enough is enough. It’s time for House Republicans to draw a line in the sand,” the congressmen wrote. “While Americans demand real action to secure our elections, Senate Republicans are twiddling their thumbs on feel-good fluff that would make a circus clown blush.”Congresswoman Lauren Boebert shared the same sentiment on Thursday. She reposted a message from former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who said that zero Senate-passed bills should even be brought to the House floor until the SAVE America Act is signed by the president. “Standing filibuster or bust,” Ms. Boebert wrote in a separate message. Mr. Trump himself has taken a similar stance with the Republican-controlled Congress. He says he will not sign a single piece of legislation — except for a bill to re-open the Department of Homeland Security — if his voting reform bill is not sent to him first. “[Even] if it takes you six months, I’m for not approving anything, I’m for not approving anything,” Mr. Trump told House Republicans at their annual retreat in Florida earlier this week. “I don’t think we should approve anything until this is approved.”Other Republicans are taking a different approach, threatening to attach the SAVE America Act to a must-pass reauthorization of FISA Section 702, which permits warrantless surveillance of non-U.S. citizens. Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, with the support of some fellow conservative House Republicans, is threatening to force an amendment vote to attach the SAVE America Act to FISA reauthorization, which must be passed by the middle of April. Ms. Boebert has signed on to support Ms. Lune in that effort. “There are enough votes in the House to kill FISA unless the SAVE America Act is attached to it. @LeaderJohnThune do the right thing,” Ms. Luna wrote on X. Outside groups, too, are putting pressure on Mr. Thune to call up a talking filibuster vote, though he has made clear that there are enough Republican opponents to defeat that motion. “He hasn’t even tried,” Heritage Action, which has been urging its members to contact Mr. Thune’s office, wrote on X. “It is political theater to simply vote on the bill with no additional effort, and the American people see through this charade.”

Gridlock in Congress: House Republicans Threaten To Jam Senate If Lawmakers Fail To Take Up Trump’s Voter ID Law

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