President Donald Trump kicked off his work week Monday morning by continuing to browbeat Senate Majority Leader John Thune over the restrictive voting bill he considers to be his party’s best chance of retaining control of Congress in the upcoming midterm elections.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump called on Thune to ditch the Senate’s annual August recess unless Republicans pass the SAVE America Act — which currently lacks enough support to overcome the Senate’s 60-vote supermajority requirement for most legislation — or change Senate rules to allow Republicans to pass any legislation with a simple majority.
“John Thune should not allow the United States Senate to “leave town” until it passes The Save America Act or, far better still, TERMINATES THE FILIBUSTER, where Republicans can then quickly pass everything they ever dreamed of,” he said, rattling off a list of possible bills to pass without Democratic support such as “a full and deep throated SAVE AMERICA ACT, the Budget, and the ever looming Debt Ceiling disaster.”
“The Dumocrats will do it on day one, and can’t believe how lucky they got with this Senate leadership. Remember, stupidity always brings LOSING & DEATH,” he added.
The Senate’s filibuster rule, which in theory permits unlimited debate on legislation but in recent years has meant any bill that lacks wide bipartisan support cannot pass the upper chamber, has long been used by the chamber’s minority to frustrate the legislative agenda of the majority.
A significant number of Democrats called for a similar change to the rules when their party held a narrow majority in both chambers, but the filibuster had — and still has — enough support from a critical mass of senators to render Trump’s demand for its’ end a dead letter.
Thune has repeatedly said there aren’t enough votes — even among Republicans — to enact Trump’s desired rule change, and he has also stressed that the SAVE America Act lacks enough support to make it through the chamber with or without the filibuster.
But Trump has continued to bang the drum for a rule change and has spent months bullying Thune over his demands.
Last week, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Trump’s “patience [was] running out” over the Senate’s failure to enact his partisan anti-voting bill and demanded that the Senate “do its’ job.”
When pressed on her remarks, Thune replied that Leavitt “or somebody else ought to get on the phone and get the votes” needed to pass the bill.
“Instead of pointing the finger at Republicans, they might think about going after the people who are stopping it on the floor, which is the Democrats. And if there are Republicans that they think are gettable, get on the phone,” he said. “Let’s get them to yes.”
But even if Trump were to successfully prevail on Thune to alter the Senate’s rules, it’s unclear whether the SAVE America Act would have sufficient GOP support to pass.
A number of Republicans have indicated their opposition to the bill, with North Carolina’s Thom Tillis calling it “fundamentally flawed” and taking credit for its’ lack of progress in the Senate.
