The future of the SAVE America Act remains in doubt, but Republican lawmakers readying for a last-ditch battle say they are willing to shake the Senate to its foundations on behalf of the voting reform legislation.
The core of the bill is a requirement for voter ID in elections. A version of the bill, which President Donald Trump has put at the top of his legislative agenda, has already passed the House. Senate passage is sticky, because although Republicans have a 53-47 majority, the bill needs 60 votes to pass.
That would require Democrats, who staunchly oppose voter ID requirements, to join Republicans in such numbers that the bill could pass even with potential Republican defections.
The showdown over the “Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act” will come this week, according to The Hill, as Republicans will push to exhaust Democratic opposition and, at the very least, force Democrats to take a stand.
“How long it goes is going to be instructive because the point of this is exhausting Democrats, the point of it is pain, the point of it is forcing a public and political process and seeing what comes out of it,” a Republican strategist said.
“Is this going to be a fist fight or not? How bloody is Thune going to make this?” the strategist said, referring to Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, who backs the SAVE America Act, said his goal is to keep Democratic opposition front and center for all of America to see, replicating a tactic used to pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
“What I want to do is try to maximize the period of time in which we debate it,” Lee said.
He said that in 1964, the Senate remained in session for 60 days “and used an approach that is similar to what I think we ought to do here.”
“They faced a 32-vote cloture deficit at the time it came over from the House in March of ’64,” Lee said. “They were able to close a 32-vote cloture deficit. It took them 60 days but they got there.”
“Debating a bill that continues to get more popular even as people are trying to slow it down and stop it and obstruct it sometimes sharpens the minds of individual lawmakers and makes them more amenable in the end to negotiation,” Lee said. “That’s what we’re looking at here.”
Republican Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama was asked if the GOP would hold the floor for an extended period of time.
“Heck yeah,” she replied.
In a release posted on her website, Britt noted that “this is what America wants, and this is what America deserves.”
“Look, there is nothing more fundamental than Americans having faith in their elections. That is what allows our democracy to continue to flourish… We show ID for literally everything else, to pick up your tickets to go into a football game, or to get on an airplane,” she said.
“You heard Chuck Schumer, he said the quiet part out loud. There are tons of, whether it’s illegal immigrants or people who should no longer be on a voter roll that are on there, that he’s afraid will be kicked off. Well, I have news for you, Chuck: Americans want their elections to be American citizens only, and we in the United States Senate are going to continue to fight for that.”
As noted by the White House, multiple polls show support for the SAVE America Act and the concept of voter ID.
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