President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., are publicly at odds over whether the Senate should cancel its August recess to continue debating the SAVE America Act, legislation Trump says is needed to strengthen election integrity and help prevent voter fraud, according to a report by The Hill.
Speaking Monday, Thune said there was little point in canceling the Senate’s August recess, despite Trump’s call this week for lawmakers to remain in Washington until the bill is passed or the Senate eliminates the filibuster so Republicans can approve it with a simple majority.
“If I thought there was a path to getting a result, I’m all for it,” Thune told reporters, according to The Hill.
“We voted on it two, three, four, five times already. … Show me how this ends. What’s the picture of victory at the end?”
Thune also said forcing senators to remain in Washington for procedural votes would keep vulnerable Republicans from returning to their home states to campaign ahead of the November elections.
Trump has made passage of the SAVE America Act one of his top legislative priorities, arguing the measure would strengthen election security by requiring proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote, requiring photo identification to cast a ballot and placing additional restrictions on mail-in voting.
On Monday, Trump urged Senate Republicans to remain in session until the legislation is approved or to abolish the legislative filibuster to allow Republicans to pass it with a simple majority.
“John Thune should not allow the United States Senate to ‘leave town’ until it passes The Save America Act or, far better still, TERMINATES THE FILIBUSTER, where Republicans can then quickly pass everything they ever dreamed of,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
According to The Hill, Trump’s allies are increasing pressure on Senate Republican leadership by threatening to object to any motion allowing the Senate to adjourn for its traditional five-week August recess.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, one of the bill’s leading supporters, announced on social media that he would object to any effort to recess before the Senate votes on the legislation.
“I hereby object to any effort to put the Senate into recess in August — at least until such time as the Senate has passed the SAVE America Act,” Lee wrote, according to The Hill.
Republican Sens. Rick Scott of Florida, Ashley Moody of Florida, and Jim Banks of Indiana have also urged GOP leaders to keep the Senate in session through Labor Day if necessary to continue debating and voting on the legislation, The Hill reported.
The effort has exposed divisions within the Senate Republican Conference.
According to The Hill, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, argued that extending the session without enough votes to pass the bill would disappoint Republican voters and force politically vulnerable GOP incumbents into difficult votes.
“What possible rationale could there be for that other than self-aggrandizement?” Cornyn said of senators pushing to cancel the recess, according to the report.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., also opposed delaying the recess, calling the proposal “catastrophic.”
“I think it’s snatching defeat from the jaws of victory,” Tillis said, according to The Hill, arguing Republican senators should spend August campaigning in their home states rather than remaining in Washington.
The latest disagreement follows several days of increasingly pointed exchanges between Trump and Thune.
At a rally in Georgia last week, Trump criticized the Senate, saying it had become “a place you send things when you want them to die.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later said the president’s “patience is running out with Thune” and urged the Senate to advance Trump’s legislative agenda.
Thune responded by suggesting Trump personally lobby senators who oppose changing Senate rules.
According to The Hill, Thune said Trump and his team previously met with about 20 Republican senators to discuss eliminating the legislative filibuster and the Senate’s blue-slip process for judicial nominations, but roughly 15 Republicans opposed those changes.
“This is not an open question; it’s just a fact,” Thune said, according to The Hill.
“If he can change the facts and start moving some of those senators who are nos into yeses, then we have a different conversation.”
Thune said he would consider canceling the August recess if the Senate had legislation it could realistically pass.
The Hill also reported that four Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky — voted against Trump’s preferred version of the SAVE America Act when it was offered as an amendment to a budget reconciliation package in June.
The measure also lacks sufficient Democratic support to overcome the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster threshold.
“If we had the votes, it would make a lot more sense” to cancel the recess, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., told The Hill.
Capito added that senators also need time during the August break to campaign and stay connected with constituents in their home states.