President Donald J. Trump used Wednesday’s Senate GOP policy lunch to spank Republicans for stalling the SAVE America Act. What later transpired helps explain this failure.
“Late Wednesday night, the Senate held another Iran War Powers vote,” Punchbowl News reported. “The Senate then left town until July 13.”
GOP leaders John Thune of South Dakota and John Cornyn of Texas claim that the Senate is too busy with budget bills, judicial nominations, and national-security matters to consider SAVE and its election-integrity reforms. Thune and Cornyn’s credibility evaporated when the Senate bailed for an 18-day hiatus—and on a Wednesday, no less.
“The Senate sucks,” an exasperated Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., told journalists Thursday on Capitol Hill. “Eighty percent of the American people want the SAVE America Act to pass. Not 80% of Republicans — 80% of the American people. And the only organization that refuses to act is the United States Senate.”
Donalds added: “What is happening in the U.S. Senate is laziness. And, quite frankly, it’s disgusting.”
To his credit, Thune kept the Senate hopping early in Trump 47. It met for 70 days without a recess and confirmed Trump’s entire Cabinet.
But since then, Thune and the Senate have relapsed. SAVE and other top legislative priorities routinely yield to Job One: rest and relaxation.
“When I came up here, I thought I would fly up on Sunday night and leave Friday night,” Sen. Rick Scott, R–Fla., lamented to Fox Business Network anchor Maria Bartiromo. “We only work two-and-a-half days a week. … So, we can do it, but it might require us to stay up there and lose some of our recess and work five days a week.”
On March 17, Senate Republicans forced Democrats to stand up and explain why they hate SAVE. This talking filibuster let Democrats beclown themselves by screaming their exhausted excuse for opposing clean voter rolls, limits on mail-in ballots, proof of U.S. citizenship to register, and photo ID to vote: “Racism!”
Just as Republicans began to gain traction and Democrats’ lust for voter fraud became increasingly undeniable, Thune set Democrats free. He dismissed the Senate for a two-week Easter vacation. Between honestelections and chocolate bunnies, Thune chose chocolate bunnies.
Compare Thune’s lassitude with the iron rule of former Democrat leader Harry Reid of Nevada. Hellbent on approving ObamaCare, Reid kept senators in session until Democrats adopted it on a party-line vote on Christmas Eve 2009.
The GOP Senate needs such true grit. Alas, John Thune offers talcum powder.
“Anybody who follows this process closely knows that we don’t have the votes,” Thune whined earlier this month.
Well, John, that’s your job.
Thune is like a regional sales manager who moans to headquarters, “I don’t have any sales.”
Well, kid, go close some sales!
If SAVE lacks the votes, get the votes!
Four GOP senators have resisted SAVE. Thune should deploy carrots and sticks, as appropriate.
Rename the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing room after Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell. Schedule an imminent vote on any pet bill sponsored by North Carolina’s Thom Tillis. Pledge to barnstorm Maine with Susan Collins and fly her to South Dakota for fundraisers with Thune’s top donors. Hand Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski a fresh survey showing her losing a 2028 GOP primary to Gov. Mike Dunleavy. Lean on her: “Wouldn’t it be sad if something happened to that little Senate seat of yours?”
Thune and conservative PACs should run broadcast and digital ads to pressure McConnell, Tillis, Collins, and Murkowski to support SAVE.
Would passing SAVE be easy? No, but enacting ObamaCare was hard. Rather than nap, Democrats persevered and prevailed. ObamaCare was rotten legislation authorized via a relentless strategy that Republicans should emulate.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday morning created yet another urgent reason to pass the SAVE America Act. In a 5-4 decision that crushed clean-vote advocates, Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett hardened a major hurdle to honest elections. Her majority opinion in Watson v. Republican National Committee frees Mississippi to keep accepting mail-in ballots in federal races, even after Election Day.
So, if they are postmarked by Election Day, the magic ballots may stream in for days or even weeks after polls close in Alaska, California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, Washington state, and West Virginia. As the National Conference of State Legislatures observes, Olympia lets the Evergreen State’s mail-in ballots cascade for “21 days after a general election.”
Lest GOP candidates in close races on Election Night drown in a subsequent tsunami of magic ballots, the Senate must approve SAVE and its restrictions on such votes, namely ensuring that they come from citizens who are in the Armed Forces, sick, infirm, or absent on Election Day.
John Thune ached to lead Senate Republicans. So, lead!
Keep the Senate in session, skip the endless vacations, and work as tirelessly as the American people.
The SAVE America Act—and the voters—deserve nothing less.
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