President Trump demanded Monday that Senate Majority Leader John Thune cancel the chamber’s August recess until the Senate passes the SAVE America Act, intensifying pressure on GOP leadership over a bill that has repeatedly failed to gain enough support.
In a Truth Social post, Trump told Thune to keep the Senate in session or, “far better still, TERMINATES THE FILIBUSTER, where Republicans can then quickly pass everything they ever dreamed of.” The demand follows weeks of failed attempts to pass the election bill, which would require documented proof of citizenship to register to vote, photo identification to cast a ballot, and restrict mail-in voting.
Senate conservatives led by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) have echoed Trump’s call. Lee warned on social media last week that he would “object to any effort to put the Senate into recess in August — at least until such time as the Senate has passed the SAVE America Act” and requested a roll call vote to adjourn for five weeks over most of August and early September. Other GOP senators including Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Ashley Moody (R-Fla.), and Jim Banks (R-Ind.) have said they will vote to stay in session until the bill passes.
The SAVE America Act has become Trump’s signature legislative priority, but it faces a fundamental obstacle: insufficient votes. The bill failed its last major Senate test on June 4, when it fell short with a 48-50 vote as part of a budget reconciliation package. Four Republicans — Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and Susan Collins (R-Maine) — voted against an amendment that would have added the bill to a $70 billion spending package.
Tillis has since declared the bill “dead” in the Senate for the foreseeable future. “Unless they do the work to get to the 60 votes, they know it’s dead, and so all this is theater,” Tillis told the Raleigh News & Observer, calling on GOP colleagues to move on to other priorities. The bill requires 60 votes to overcome the filibuster, a threshold Republicans cannot reach without Democratic support — and not a single Democrat backs the legislation.
Senate Majority Leader Thune has been candid about the math. “It’s about the votes. It’s about the math,” he told reporters, adding that he is “the one who has to be the clear-eyed realist about what we can achieve here.” On Monday, Thune reiterated that there would not be changes to Senate rules to pass the bill, according to reporting from the Election Law Blog.
The Senate has already spent several weeks debating the SAVE America Act and voted on it in whole or in part at least five times, each time falling short. Not a single Democrat supports the bill, which Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer has called “Jim Crow 2.0.” According to NPR’s reporting, research has shown millions of Americans lack easy access to documents proving citizenship, and experts say such a requirement is unnecessary given that noncitizens vote at “microscopic numbers” in American elections.
Despite the lack of votes, Trump’s pressure campaign continues. He told Senate Republicans last week to adopt a $95 billion party-line spending blueprint that would include election-related funding before the August 6 recess. Most GOP senators, however, do not expect that to happen, and the budget blueprint does not currently have the 50 votes it needs among Senate Republicans.
The push to cancel recess comes as Thune faces a crowded legislative agenda with only two weeks left before the August break. The majority leader wants to clear government funding, a long-stalled Russia sanctions bill, and dozens of nominees — all while managing pressure from Trump and his right flank over a bill that Trump has escalated pressure on Thune over for months.
Sources
- Politico — Trump’s demand that Thune keep the Senate in session and his call to terminate the filibuster; Thune’s position on Senate rules; GOP senators’ statements on canceling recess; the state of the spending bill blueprint
- The Hill — Mike Lee’s objection to August recess; statements from Rick Scott, Ashley Moody, and Jim Banks; the June amendment vote count and four Republican defections; Tillis’s declaration that the bill is “dead”
- NPR — The June 4 Senate vote (48-50); the bill’s requirements (proof of citizenship, photo ID, mail-in ballot restrictions); expert analysis on citizenship documentation access; the microscopic rate of noncitizen voting; Thune’s “clear-eyed realist” quote
- Congress.gov — The SAVE America Act’s legislative requirements and status
- Election Law Blog — Thune’s statement that there would be no changes to Senate rules to pass the bill
