Senate GOP eyes blame game as Trump-backed SAVE Act heads for defeat

Senate Republicans acknowledge the Trump-backed Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act is likely doomed to fail and are looking for ways to pin the blame on Senate Democrats.

“Senate Republicans know that Trump-backed voter ID legislation is doomed to fail and are trying to find a way to pin the blame on Senate Democrats”

Fox News

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., plans to bring the bill to the floor next week but said Republicans won’t launch a talking filibuster despite pressure from President Donald Trump and the GOP base.

Fox News

"We don't have the votes either to proceed, get on a talking filibuster, nor to sustain one if we got on it," Thune said.

Thune added that the lack of a filibuster push is "just a function of math."

Republicans say an exhaustive marathon of debate could still let them pass parts of the SAVE Act at a simple-majority threshold, but leaders warn they lack votes to block Democratic amendments that could reshape the bill.

A likely GOP strategy is to mimic the talking-filibuster format’s marathon of debate while stacking the floor with Republican amendments, forcing Democrats to take vote after vote and then holding a final vote after the amendment flurry.

Fox News

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., met with Trump to push for the SAVE America Act and Johnson said Republicans could flood the floor with amendments in a genuine bid to reshape the bill.

Johnson described the tactic as a way to "make sure the Democrats get blamed, because they're the ones that are truly blocking this."

Republicans are also weighing more drastic procedural options, but there is limited appetite for them within the conference.

“Senate Republicans know that Trump-backed voter ID legislation is doomed to fail and are trying to find a way to pin the blame on Senate Democrats”

Fox News

One option would be to "nuke the filibuster" to pass the SAVE America Act, which some argue Democrats would do anyway when they eventually regain control of the upper chamber, but Republicans say they do not want to blow up the filibuster.

"I suggest our first goal will be to try and pass it, but I understand how difficult that is, and I'm sympathetic with the position of not ending the filibuster," Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told Fox News Digital.

Another route is budget reconciliation, which Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., has advocated, though reconciliation would require surviving the Byrd Rule and the judgment of the parliamentarian.

President Trump has urged passage and warned failure would hurt Republicans in the midterms, saying, "It will guarantee the midterms. If you don’t get it, big trouble."

Senate Democrats are nearly unified in opposing the bill, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., accused the legislation of "destroying" and "purging" voter rolls and said, "This is a bill that destroys the country," adding, "And it is not about showing ID when you show up to vote."

Fox News

Supporters have proposed amendments that would nudge the bill toward Trump’s priorities, such as restricting mail-in ballots, banning men from women’s sports and halting transgender surgical procedures on minors, items GOP senators said they would use in floor amendments.

Kennedy said legal and parliamentary strategy will matter if Republicans try reconciliation: "It really comes down to what the [Senate] parliamentarian says, and I would get the best minds I could find to try to draft a provision that would survive Byrd," Kennedy said.

"When you argue or debate with the parliamentarian, you've got to be ready. You can't just walk in there and pull it out of your orifices."