President Trump said Sunday he won’t sign any more legislation until Congress passes the SAVE Act, the federal voter‑ID bill he’s been pushing, and he urged Senate Republicans to use a “talking filibuster” to force action.
On Truth Social, he made his position clear: “I, as President, will not sign other Bills until this is passed, AND NOT THE WATERED DOWN VERSION — GO FOR THE GOLD: MUST SHOW VOTER I.D. & PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP: NO MAIL-IN BALLOTS EXCEPT FOR MILITARY — ILLNESS, DISABILITY, TRAVEL: NO MEN IN WOMEN’S SPORTS: NO TRANSGENDER MUTILIZATION [sic] FOR CHILDREN! DO NOT FAIL!!!”
The SAVE Act would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and a photo ID to vote in person. The House passed it in February, mostly along party lines.
The White House had already signaled that Mr. Trump wanted senators to add limits on absentee voting and restrictions on certain medical treatments for transgender minors to the bill, which was already likely to face a Democratic filibuster. The bill has been stuck in the Senate, with Democrats and Sen. Lisa Murkowski opposing it.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, appearing on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” said the legislation is a no-brainer.
“These are commonsense proposals and policies that, again, are backed by the vast majority of our country, if you look at the public polling, from Americans on both sides of the aisle,” she said. “These are winning issues for the American people. They are losing battles for politicians on Capitol Hill.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune has been under heavy pressure from Mr. Trump and conservative activists to find a way to move the bill forward
Mr. Thune, South Dakota Republican, backs the proposal but has stopped short of embracing the talking filibuster strategy, which would force Democratic opponents to physically hold the floor to block the bill. Once debate is exhausted, Republicans could call a simple-majority vote, skirting the 60-vote threshold typically required to advance legislation.
Mr. Thune said late last month that the votes simply aren’t there.
“The talking filibuster issue is one on which there is not, certainly, a unified Republican conference, and there would have to be,” Mr. Thune said after a Senate GOP meeting. “If you go down that path, you’re talking about the need to table what are going to be numerous amendments and an ability to keep 50 Republicans unified, pretty much on every single vote. And there’s just not, there isn’t support for doing that at this point.”
The Senate could also eliminate or change the decades-old filibuster rule outright — allowing a simple-majority vote without requiring senators to hold the floor at all — though that step would face resistance within the Republican conference.
Mr. Trump said in his State of the Union address that Democrats oppose the bill because “they want to cheat” in elections.
Despite the obstacles, the proposal has its backers. Sen. John Kennedy, Louisiana Republican, said he agreed “with everything the president said in his tweet” and that he does expect Mr. Thune to hold a vote on the legislation.
Even so, he suggested the outcome is uncertain given Democratic opposition and Republican holdouts.
“We’ve got some free-range chickens on the Republican side, and we’re going to have to go gather them up,” Mr. Kennedy said.
Sen. John Barrasso, Wyoming Republican, also voiced support for the SAVE Act, but said Congress should first move to end the stalemate over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, warning it is leaving the nation less safe.
As for whether the “talking filibuster” was the answer for the SAVE Act, Mr. Barrasso was less certain.
“That’s one way to do it,” he said. “Members are having meetings right now to say, ‘What’s the best way that we can actually get this passed?”
