Republicans signal no retreat on SAVE Act as marathon Senate debate kicks off

Senate Republicans dug in for the long haul as they embarked on their floor takeover and signaled that the hours of debate that crept well beyond the upper chamber's usual twilight business hours were just the beginning.

The GOP launched its plan to control the Senate floor earlier Tuesday and spent the ensuing hours lauding and defending the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act as Senate Democrats hammered the bill as a tool of voter suppression.

But without Democratic support, the bill is destined to fail. And the vote to open the marathon debate session, which lawmakers predict could last days if not weeks, was an indicator that the support did not exist in the upper chamber to pass the SAVE America Act.

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Still, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, the bill’s sponsor in the upper chamber and the lawmaker who led lobbying efforts with Senate Republican leadership to get the bill on the floor, argued late Tuesday night that Senate Republicans would be remiss to waste the opportunity ahead of them.

"This is our moment," Lee said. "Stand for a simple principle; let the American people see who is willing to defend their sacred right to vote and who is not."

Several other lawmakers took to the floor throughout the late afternoon and evening, with debate often weaving in and out of the topic at hand and stretching into other matters of the day, like President Donald Trump’s war in Iran or honoring the Ohio service members who died in a midair refueling mission in the Middle East.

Democrats charged that the bill went far beyond just voter ID and was designed to suppress a plethora of groups from voting.

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Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., accused Republicans of using the floor exercise to distract from other pressing issues.

"Instead of focusing on the affordability crisis or trying to save us from endless wars, Senate Republicans are once again doing Donald Trump’s bidding," Padilla said. "This time, they’re making his conspiracy-fueled election takeover bill their top priority."

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., said that repeated probes and investigations found that "you are more likely to get struck by lightning than for a non-citizen to vote." Republicans argue the bill is explicitly designed to end that practice.

Merkley countered that the legislation was about "rigging the November election."

"And that's exactly what Trump said — ‘You give me this bill, my party will win November and every other election for a long time to come,’" Merkley said.

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., who is leading an amendment to include several changes to the bill requested by Trump, argued that "a republic has the right to distinguish citizens from noncitizens."

"That should not be controversial," Schmitt said. "That should not even be difficult. The vote is not a global entitlement. The vote is not a participation trophy for anyone who happens to cross our borders."

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The floor debate is expected to continue for the next several days. In the meantime, some Republicans believe they can wear down Senate Democrats enough to pass the legislation, despite the challenge of the 60-vote filibuster threshold.

Lee and a cohort of like-minded Republicans pushed for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to turn to the talking filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act, which, after possibly several weeks of debate, would lower the threshold to pass the bill to a simple majority.

Despite pressure from within his conference, Trump, and conservatives beyond the walls of Congress, the notion has become an insurmountable math problem that Republicans have not been able to unify behind.

Lee, however, was ready for the long haul Tuesday night.

"Let’s face it, there is no legitimate reason to oppose this bill," Lee said. "And I stand by that, and I will continue to stand by that in the coming days and weeks. And I'm ready for many, many weeks. We're going to stay on this bill until it damn well passes, because the American people demand and deserve nothing less than that."