SAVE America Act Debate Drags On, With Lawmakers Nowhere Near Deal To Fund Homeland Security Department

The Senate’s debate of the SAVE America Act is stretching into its third day with no action yet being taken on the floor to change the bill, as President Trump has demanded. The debate is taking place even as lawmakers are nowhere near a deal on re-opening the Department of Homeland Security, which is causing significant delays at airports across the country. The bill being debated would require Americans to prove their citizenship before voting, and to show photo identification when they go to the polls. After slamming the door on a potential “talking filibuster” — which would have taken up months of the Senate’s time — Senator John Thune allowed conservatives to take up a marathon debate, which could last until next week. Mr. Trump is asking senators to include three new provisions in the SAVE America Act — a severe restriction on voting by mail, a ban on transgender athletes competing in sports leagues designated for a biological sex that is not their own, and a ban on transgender surgeries and hormone therapies for minors. Senator Eric Schmitt, a hardline conservative from Missouri, is planning on calling up those three additions in the coming days. “The United States Senate is here to legislate in defense of the American people. The Senate is here to draw lines,” Mr. Schmitt said on the Senate floor on Tuesday. Mr. Schmitt’s Republican colleagues, however, have made clear that his mail ballot restriction amendment and the SAVE America Act itself are doomed to fail. Senator Thom Tillis says the debate around the bill is essentially a waste of time. “Even if this issue is fixed, the SAVE America Act still will not have the 60 votes required to pass it,” he said of the mail ballot provision, calling on lawmakers to find common ground on other voting legislation. Many Democrats have said they would back a standalone voter ID bill. “The only real path to address the American people’s declining confidence in our elections is for both parties to find common ground on legislation that supports universal adoption of voter ID, proof of citizenship, and other vital election integrity measures,” Mr. Tillis wrote. When lawmakers do seek to end the debate, it will require 60 votes to do so, and all Democrats — along with two Republicans — have already said they will not support that motion. At the same moment that the SAVE America Act is dominating the Senate floor, lawmakers are no closer to re-opening the Department of Homeland Security as Senate Democrats and the White House trade offers on how to reform ICE. The most recent offer from the White House included requirements that some DHS agents wear body cameras and identifying information, new protections for “sensitive places” that would be off-limits for immigration enforcement, and a guarantee that members of Congress have oversight of ICE facilities. The trading of papers between Democrats and the Trump administration has been going on for weeks, and has borne no fruit thus far. In the meantime, senators have been engaging in bitter back-and-forths on the floor about funding for DHS. Democrats have been calling up unanimous consent requests to fund all parts of DHS — including TSA, the Coast Guard, and FEMA — except for the immigration enforcement agencies. Republicans, meanwhile, are putting up requests that the department be funded in its entirety. On Thursday, three senators got into it after a Republican tried to pass the bill to fund DHS unanimously. “If we actually wanna pay TSA, let’s do it. Right now,” Senator Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat, said Thursday after objecting to Senator Bernie Moreno’s unanimous consent request to fund the department. She, like other Democrats, has been pushing for the clean extension of all funds except for immigration enforcement. “What’s wrong with that is that there’s hundreds of thousands of other government employees who for no fault of their own — they did nothing wrong. They didn’t do anything to do what happened in Minneapolis,” Mr. Moreno said. “They do the best they can to keep us safe.”After Mr. Moreno and Ms. Slotkin finished their debate, another Democrat, Senator Brian Schatz, spoke with Mr. Moreno on the Senate floor. From the gallery, it was clear that the two were in an intense conversation with Mr. Moreno expressed frustration with Democrats’ position. Mr. Moreno could be heard calling their opposition to DHS funding “bulls–t.”

SAVE America Act Debate Drags On, With Lawmakers Nowhere Near Deal To Fund Homeland Security Department

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