Four Ways Senate GOP Leadership Can Kill the SAVE Act While Pretending to Support It
This is not about Democrats. This is about whether Thune actually wants the bill to pass or just wants to look sad when it dies.
Four Ways Senate GOP Leadership Can Kill the SAVE Act While Pretending to Support It
The SAVE Act already passed the House. It has broad public support. Gallup found support for voter ID across Republicans, Democrats, and independents. President Trump has even said he will not sign other legislation until the Senate passes it.
So naturally, Senate Republican leadership appears ready to treat this thing like a hostage situation.
This is not mainly about Democrats. Nobody expects Chuck Schumer to become a grassroots election integrity activist. This is about whether Republican leadership, especially John Thune, actually wants the bill to pass or just wants to look sad when it dies. Because those are not the same thing.
Trick No. 1: Avoid the Talking Filibuster, Then Hide Behind Cloture
A real fight would force Democrats to hold the floor in a talking filibuster. That means speeches. Exhaustion. Cameras. Pressure. And eventually, once they run out of gas, the Senate can move toward final passage by simple majority.
Instead, critics say Thune is steering toward cloture. That means 60 votes. Which means the bill dies. Which means leadership gets to shrug and say, "Well, we tried." No, they did not.
Cleta Mitchell of the Conservative Partnership Institute put it plainly: "We do not want a CLOTURE vote. If Thune does, he will have DELIBERATELY killed the SAVE America Act."
Sean Davis, co-founder of The Federalist, was even less diplomatic: Thune is setting up "a 60-vote obstacle which will doom the bill to failure but allow puke Republicans to pretend to support it since they know it's dead anyway."
Trick No. 2: Pretend the Rules Leave No Other Option
Thune told ABC News that passing the bill would require "nuking the legislative filibuster" and that "we don't have the votes." According to Rachel Bovard, vice president of the Conservative Partnership Institute, that is simply false.
As Bovard told The Federalist: "Everything in the Senate prior to cloture being filed on it is at simple majority." The claim that Republicans must blow up Senate rules to pass the SAVE Act is not a serious description of the rules. It is a talking point. It is a permission slip for surrender. They are not trapped by procedure. They are using procedure as camouflage.
Trick No. 3: Refuse to Corral Republican Votes
Sean Davis asked the obvious question: "If John Thune and John Cornyn can't find 50 votes for voter I.D., what exactly is the point of them?"
The House passed the bill. Murkowski was the lone GOP vote against advancing it. Public support is broad. President Trump has made it a priority. So why would Republican leadership struggle to find the votes? One possible answer is incompetence. The other is that some of them do not actually want to find them. And yes, one of those answers is worse.
Trick No. 4: Run Out the Clock While Staging Concern
The oldest trick in Washington is not opposition. It is delay. Burn floor time. Shift attention elsewhere. Promise action "soon." Let the urgency fade. Then, when the bill finally hits a procedural brick wall, act disappointed. Because of course.
Davis warned that Thune knows "a public vote where Republicans get less than 50 votes, with people like Tillis and Curtis and McConnell and Murkowski voting against it, is electoral poison." That may be exactly why leadership prefers a procedural death over a transparent one.
This Is the Test
The SAVE Act is not some fringe messaging bill. It is basic election integrity. It already passed the House. It is popular with the public. It is backed by President Trump. If Senate Republicans cannot or will not pass this, what exactly are voters supposed to conclude?
The question for Thune and company is simple: are you going to force the fight and pass the bill, or are you going to bury it under procedure so you can go home pretending your hands were tied?
Voters are not stupid. And this time, the process is the story.
Further Reading
• The Federalist: 4 Sneaky Ways GOP Senators Will Try To Block Voting Protections