Thune, Amid Public Pressure Campaign, Shuts the Door on ‘Talking Filibuster’ Option for Voter ID Bill

The Senate majority leader, Senator John Thune, says he does not have the votes to take President Trump’s preferred path in order to get a proof-of-citizenship and voter-identification bill passed. Mr. Thune is facing an intense public pressure campaign from not just the president, but from other Republican lawmakers and influential conservative commentators, as well. For months, conservatives have pushed Mr. Thune to use what is known as a “talking filibuster” in order to pass legislation with a simple majority. Typically, legislation must first clear a 60-vote threshold in order to end debate and proceed to final passage. “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 told reporters during a press conference on Tuesday. “I understand the president’s got a passion to see this issue addressed, as we all do.”The risks of a talking filibuster are numerous. In this process, Democrats would be required to hold the floor and speak in order to delay votes on amendments and the final bill itself. With unlimited amendments and unlimited debate, they could drag the process out for weeks or even months, which would effectively end Republicans’ legislative agenda ahead of the midterm elections. When asked if the president understood the realities of a talking filibuster in the Senate, Mr. Thune did not give an explicit answer. “Well, we’ve conveyed that to him but we will continue to make that argument,” Mr. Thune said about his explanations to the president about why his preferred path is not feasible. “It’s about the votes. It’s about the math.”“For better or worse, I’m the one who has to be the clear-eyed realist about what we can achieve here,” he said. Mr. Trump is threatening to not sign a single piece of legislation — other than a bill to re-open the Department of Homeland Security — unless the voting bill, the SAVE America Act, comes to his desk first. The bill, as currently written, requires Americans to prove that they are citizens before registering to vote. The bill would also require that all voters show photo identification when voting. Mr. Trump is also demanding that three additional provisions be added to the bill — a ban on voting by mail except for certain circumstances, making it illegal to perform transgender surgeries on or prescribe hormones to minors, and a new law requiring that transgender individuals play sports in leagues which align with their biological sex. Mr. Thune says that the SAVE America Act will come up for a vote next week, though it will be subject to that 60-vote threshold. One Senate Republican, Senator Lisa Murkowski, has come out against the bill. No Democrats have signaled support. “There are a lot of optimistic views about what Democrats may or may not do. We all know because we deal with them everyday that the Democrats are not, all of a sudden, gonna decide that this is something they want to be for,” Mr. Thune said. Beyond Mr. Trump’s own demand that the bill be passed, other lawmakers and conservative commentators are publicly ripping into Mr. Thune for not proceeding to a talking filibuster. “Putting Democrats ‘on the record’ is completely useless. Democrats are already on the record opposing the SAVE Act. We don’t need a vote for that,” Congressman Brandon Gill, a Texas Republican, wrote on X Tuesday. “We need the Senate to use the talking filibuster to get the bill to the President’s desk. Anything less is humiliating failure.”The bill’s sponsors, Senator Mike Lee and Congressman Chip Roy, are continuing to press Senate Republicans to embrace the talking filibuster strategy. “Using the talking filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act would be a time-consuming endeavor. That isn’t a bug; it’s a feature,” Mr. Lee wrote on X, arguing that Democrats should be forced to hold the floor and explain their opposition to the bill. Mr. Roy reposted that message. Even Elon Musk has begun attacking Mr. Thune for not moving forward with the talking filibuster option. On Monday, Mr. Thune said he believed that “paid” conservative influencers online were likely behind much of the vitriol directed at Senate Republicans. When one X user wrote that it was Mr. Thune who was the “paid influencer,” Mr. Musk shared the message and wrote, “True.”Under a video posted to Mr. Thune’s government X account, Mr. Musk simply replied: “Pass SAVE.”Another X user asked rhetorically online if Mr. Thune understood just how badly he was handling this situation. In response to that comment, Mr. Musk wrote, “Not yet.”

Thune, Amid Public Pressure Campaign, Shuts the Door on ‘Talking Filibuster’ Option for Voter ID Bill

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