GOP infighting over Trump's voter ID bill erupts as top senator calls strategy 'fantasy'
Senate Republicans are taking closed-door conversations online to snipe at one another over stalled voter ID and citizenship verification legislation.
President Donald Trump wants Republicans to pass the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, but the political reality in the Senate, albeit through extreme measures that don't have unified support among the Senate GOP, makes passage unlikely.
Still, that has not stopped Trump, supporters online, and key proponents of the legislation in the Senate from pushing the message that the SAVE America Act can pass, but only if Republicans have the guts to do it.
That avenue would be through the "talking filibuster," which proponents say would grind down Democrats’ resistance and ultimately lead to the SAVE America Act passing at a simple majority threshold.
'IT'S A MESS': GOP TURNS ON HOUSE CONSERVATIVES AS VOTER ID BLOCKADE STALLS TRUMP'S AGENDA
Opponents warn that doing so would dominate the Senate’s most valuable commodity — floor time — and allow Democrats to control the tempo of the upper chamber. And, there’s fear that Republicans wouldn’t stay unified to kill Democratic amendments on a variety of issues.
Those dueling positions have caused clashes typically kept behind closed doors in the Senate to manifest on social media, notably between Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and John Cornyn, R-Texas.
"There is not [a] single instance in the history of the United States Senate where a ‘talking filibuster’ has resulted in a favorable outcome for the proponent," Cornyn said on X while sharing a memo that included numerous "issues" with launching a talking filibuster.
Among those were the arguments that it would make campaigning more difficult because of attendance requirements, that it would allow Democrats to force unlimited votes on politically tough amendments on "issues that divide" Republicans, and that Democrats could drag out the process so long that the SAVE America Act might not be implemented before the election. Lee shot back that Cornyn’s memo "perfectly illustrates why the talking filibuster is necessary — not why we should avoid it like the plague or pretend it doesn’t exist."
"The procedural hurdles you list (including the two-speech rule, quorum, calendar drag, and opportunity costs) are real," Lee said. "But they’re also manageable—and in many instances can even be used to strengthen our negotiating position—if Republicans actually use the rules instead of surrendering to them."
"The alternative — walking away from the SAVE America Act — has far higher costs: another election without proof of citizenship, more erosion of public confidence, and Democrats continuing to weaponize the same procedures against us," he continued.
Cornyn’s response: "fantasy."
Meanwhile, the House is facing its own SAVE America Act dispute, which has threatened to blow up the perennial, must-pass National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., demanded that House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., include the legislation in the colossal NDAA package.
He relented, but it will be the same version of the voter ID bill that the House already passed and that the Senate has been unable to move. And during negotiations over the NDAA in the coming weeks and months, the Senate can easily strip the measure out to ensure that the Pentagon authorization bill passes.
The House will take its first step on that plan Tuesday afternoon.
Most Senate Republicans support the original SAVE America Act, which includes voter ID, citizenship verification to register to vote, giving the Department of Homeland Security access to voter rolls, and other policies.
But Trump wants his version of the SAVE America Act, which tacks on tight restrictions on mail-in ballots, halts biological men from participating in women’s sports and bans transgender surgeries on minors, which does not have 50 votes of support among the Senate GOP.
TRUMP HEADS TO CAPITOL HILL FOR PIVOTAL MEETING AS SENATE GOP DIVISIONS DEEPEN
That version of the bill has also not passed through the House.
The Supreme Court's decision on Monday to allow mail-in ballots that arrive late to still be counted has again stoked Trump’s interest in the legislation and directed his ire toward the Senate.
"In a time when there is a powerful Communist Movement taking place in our Country, one more dangerous than World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor, or September 11th, all Dumocrats, and our five Republican Senate Hold Outs, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Thom Tillis, Bill Cassidy, and Mitch McConnell must vote to SAVE OUR COUNTRY," Trump said on Truth Social. "There can be no more excuses!"
Notably, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., has never voted against the SAVE America Act in its many different variations in the Senate, and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, supports the original version of the bill that passed the House.