House Freedom Caucus demands Senate bring SAVE America Act to the floor
by Mary McCue Bell · The Washington TimesMembers of the House Freedom Caucus blasted their GOP Senate colleagues for not bringing the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act to a vote, with one going so far as offering a bill to get rid of the Senate altogether.
Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina said that President Trump “did the right thing” by canceling a bill-signing ceremony for a bipartisan housing affordability package until the SAVE America Act passes.
The SAVE America Act’s primary sponsor, Rep. Chip Roy, said that before moving legislation that “frankly isn’t worth it, like the housing bill or bloated other bills, let’s move the stuff the American people want us to.”
To pass in its current state, the SAVE America Act would require a procedural maneuver to circumvent a filibuster by Senate Democrats.
Mr. Trump has endorsed implementing a talking filibuster, a Senate rule that bypasses the 60-vote threshold to end a filibuster and forces senators to speak if they want to block a bill. followed by a simple-majority vote when debate is exhausted.
Senate Republican leaders, including Mr. Thune, view the talking filibuster as a highly risky and unworkable tactic. They argue that instead of fixing legislative gridlock, it hands the Democrats unprecedented control to disrupt the Senate calendar by forcing procedural and substantive votes to undermine the legislation.
“I’m calling on Senate Majority Leader John Thune to use every tool available to get this legislation to President Trump’s desk,” said Rep. Mary Miller, Illinois Republican.
She and GOP Reps. Eli Crane of Arizona and Byron Donalds of Florida ripped the Senate for “hiding behind arcane” rules.
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Mr. Donalds said that senators are “too lazy to actually get in a room and truly negotiate.”
“They’d rather go to their lunches behind closed doors and point fingers at the president, because the president is doing his job that he was elected to do,” he added, referencing Wednesday’s heated GOP lunch in which a shouting match erupted between the president and outgoing Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.
Mr. Roy, Texas Republican, said that the question is whether the Senate will “put America first or continue to put the Senate first.”
“We’re trying to say that the Senate needs to move forward and to force this through using all of the tools at their disposal and to stop hiding behind fake thresholds that the Senate itself has put in place,” he said. “There is no constitutional requirement for 60 votes.”
Passing a standard bill in the Senate requires a simple majority, but to bring a bill to a final vote, 60 votes are typically required to end debate and overcome a filibuster.
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“You set up the straw man, you say, ’Well, the current bill as it’s structured can’t get 51 votes,’” said Rep. Andy Harris, Maryland Republican and chair of the caucus. “OK, tweak it so it gets 51 votes.”
Rep. Byron Donalds said plainly, “The Senate sucks.”
“Senate Republicans don’t want to do the right thing and actually have a true filibuster on the floor and debate the matter on the floor, because it would take them away from their precious meetings that they have to conduct,” the Florida Republican said.
Rep. Keith Self went as far as filing a bill Thursday to repeal the 17th Amendment to “tear down the royalty known as the U.S. Senate.”
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“If the Senate refuses to act today, let’s return the Constitution to the way it was originally designed and repeal the 17th Amendment,” the Texas Republican said.
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Mary McCue Bell
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