Senate Republicans struggle to make their voting fight uncomfortable for Democrats

Senate Republicans want to use their party-line elections bill as a cudgel against Democrats. They need to stop sparring with each other first.

Republicans kicked off debate Tuesday on the SAVE America Act, a House-passed bill that would create new proof-of-citizenship and photo ID requirements in order for Americans to participate in federal elections. In a bid to pacify House and Senate conservatives, a fervent base flooding their social media mentions and even President Donald Trump — who views the legislation as his “No. 1 priority” — Senate Republicans are expected to spend days, if not weeks, discussing the legislation.

The chances the push will succeed in passing the bill, which Democrats uniformly oppose, are miniscule. And it’s not at all clear that spending two weeks on the bill will be enough to quell what has been an intense GOP-on-GOP pressure campaign that has sucked up much of the focus in the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s vote.

“We’ll find out, you know?” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said when asked if he knew if it would be enough to satisfy Trump, who has repeatedly urged Republicans to skirt the 60-vote filibuster to pass the bill. “What I promised from the very beginning is we’ll get it up and we will have a vote. I can’t guarantee the result.”

He added that Trump and others also “want us to nuke the legislative filibuster in order to do it, and that’s also something I’ve been very clear about — there just aren’t the votes.”

Spending more than a week of floor time on a bill that is all but guaranteed to fail isn’t typically how the Senate operates. Usually, to show legislation supported by their own party can’t clear the chamber’s supermajority threshold, Senate leaders quickly move to end debate and prove it can’t get 60 votes.

But Senate Republicans are under intense pressure to show that they are fighting Democrats for “election integrity” — an issue they believe polls well for them but appears to be causing little heartburn for Democrats so far. Some believe forcing a “talking filibuster” where opponents have to hold the floor indefinitely will force the opposition to cave.

Democratic senators shrugged off the strategy Tuesday, vowing that no matter how long Republicans drag out the debate, there is no way the election bill can garner 60 Senate votes.

“If MAGA Republicans want to bog down the Senate over a debate on voter suppression, Democrats are ready. We’re ready to be here all day, all night, as long as it takes,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters. “Senate Democrats will never let this rotten bill move through this body.”

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said in an interview that Democrats will “spend the next two weeks painting them as totally out of touch.”

The Senate is expected to stay in session late into the night and into the weekend as senators hammer each other over the bill. Thune has been careful not to outline a date certain for the end of the debate, and both parties expect the process to eat up much of the next week and a half.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) predicted “late nights with us having folks on the floor as long as Republicans do … being ready for procedural motions that we’ll have to respond to in real time.”

Democrats have filed dozens of amendments to the bill, including requiring proof of citizenship to purchase an assault weapon, restoring lapsed Obamacare tax credits and tying the bill’s implementation date to the price of gas. But unlike a true “talking filibuster,” where they would be able to offer those amendments and force Republicans to take politically uncomfortable votes, Thune took steps Tuesday to keep tight control of the debate by calling up a series of Republican amendments.

Both parties have procedural curveballs they could throw. If no one is speaking, Republicans could try to move immediately to a final vote on the bill at a simple majority, while Democrats could try to adjourn or set the bill aside altogether. They are likely to pause the debate later this week by forcing a privileged vote on a resolution limiting Trump’s ability to take military action in Iran without congressional approval.

But those actions appear destined to fall short of the hardball tactics demanded by the party’s MAGA wing, including Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) — who is clamoring for the Senate to stay in session until Democrats capitulate. And even some of Lee’s allies are starting to acknowledge the bill is barreling toward a 60-vote hurdle that it can’t clear.

“If we do not act on an issue that commands this level of support … we should not be surprised when the American people lose confidence in our willingness to fight for them,” Lee told fellow Republicans from the Senate floor Tuesday night.

The initial hours of debate Tuesday were nothing out of the ordinary. Senators agreed unanimously to structure the debate, rotating which party had time to speak about the bill. There were long stretches of floor silence as the evening wore into night, and the chamber adjourned as it typically does at the end of the day. The Senate won’t come back into session until noon Wednesday.

Across the Capitol, the hardball tactics weren’t any more effective. Some House Republicans vowed to block any Senate bill to pressure their counterparts into passing the elections overhaul, but two Senate bills already cleared the chamber this week.

Senate Republicans, meanwhile, are struggling to resolve internal divisions. Some of those are tactical, but others are substantive. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has declared her opposition to the bill as a federal overreach into traditionally state-run elections. And Trump’s push to largely ban mail-in voting is a fierce point of contention that came up during the GOP’s closed-door lunch Tuesday, according to three attendees granted anonymity to describe the private discussion.

Amid backlash from several GOP senators, Republicans reworked a mail voting amendment with the White House’s blessing to try to assuage concerned members. The change includes a state-defined “hardship” exemption from in-person voting, according to a copy of the updated proposal obtained by POLITICO. The amendment is expected to get a vote as part of the Senate’s marathon debate, while internal discussions continue about two other Trump-requested additions: restricting trans women from competing in women’s sports and banning gender-affirming surgeries for minors.

That would still fall short of the talking filibuster demanded by Lee, an army of online supporters and Trump, who spoke with Lee Monday about the bill. The Utah Republican said Monday night, “If your senators don’t support using the talking filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act, you might need to replace them.”

Asked about Lee’s comments, Thune urged his party to redirect their fury.

“I prefer to have our fights with Democrats,” Thune said. “And I’m always someone who believes it’s far better for us to have a majority in the United States Senate.”