{"id":20566,"date":"2026-04-10T21:10:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T21:10:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/20566\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T21:10:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T21:10:28","slug":"senate-blocks-proposal-on-transgender-athletes-during-voting-bill-session","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/20566\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate blocks proposal on transgender athletes during voting bill session"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The Senate on Saturday blocked an amendment that would ban transgender athletes from playing in women\u2019s sports, rejecting one of President Donald Trump\u2019s priorities as he pressures Congress to act on a broad voting bill<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Senators were holding a rare weekend session to debate the voting legislation, which would put in place strict new requirements for voter registration and require photo IDs at the polls in an effort to prevent people in the country illegally from casting ballots. <\/p>\n

The House passed the bill earlier this year, but the Republican president has since said he wants additional priorities added to the legislation, including the sports ban for transgender athletes and a ban on all mail-in voting. <\/p>\n

Democrats are expected to eventually block the broader legislation, arguing that it would make voting more difficult for large groups of people. Despite Trump\u2019s pressure<\/a>, Republican senators have said repeatedly that they do not have enough support to jettison the legislative filibuster<\/a>, which triggers a 60-vote threshold in the 100-member Senate, or find another workaround to pass the bill. Republicans hold 53 seats. <\/p>\n

Still, Republicans put the legislation \u2014 the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act<\/a>, also known as the SAVE America Act or the SAVE Act \u2014 on the Senate floor this week for a lengthy debate as Trump has said he will not sign other bills until they pass the voting measure. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D, said Saturday morning that Republicans \u201chaven\u2019t made any final decisions about how to conclude this.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we are trying to do is ensure that we are having a fulsome debate,\u201d Thune said, and put everyone on the record \u201cone way or the other.\u201d <\/p>\n

Senate rejects Trump priorities<\/p>\n

The amendment that was blocked by a 49-41 vote would penalize educational institutions that receive federal funding if they permitted individuals assigned male at birth to participate \u201cin an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls.\u201d <\/p>\n

Trump also wants Congress to block sex reassignment surgeries on some minors as part of the debate on the voting bill. It is unclear whether the Senate will hold a vote on that.<\/p>\n

In addition, Trump has said he wants the House-passed bill to include a ban on most mail-in balloting. Trump has criticized mail in ballots for years and used it as a centerpiece of his efforts to overturn his defeat<\/a> to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. A ban on mail ballots would likely face strong pushback from lawmakers. <\/p>\n

Republicans focus on voter ID <\/p>\n

Thune said the Senate will soon vote on an amendment that would force all states to require photo identification at the polls<\/a>. Democrats blocked a similar bill on the floor last week, but Republicans say they want to put them on the record on that issue with a roll call vote. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are no good excuses\u201d not to require photo identification, said Republican Sen. John Husted, a former Secretary of State in Ohio. \u201cThis works. It\u2019s being implemented all over the country.\u201d <\/p>\n

Illegal voting by noncitizens<\/a> is rare<\/a>. Still, a poll by the Pew Research Center in August 2025 found that about 8 in 10 US adults said they favor requiring all voters to show government-issued photo identification to vote.<\/p>\n

Thirty-six states require some form of identification at the polls, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, and 23 states require photo identification. The SAVE America Act would require photo identification and could override many forms of ID allowed in states across the country \u2014 including fishing and hunting licenses or college IDs. It would also require that people voting by mail include a photocopy of their ID with their ballot. <\/p>\n

Democrats say they support some voter ID laws, but argue that the proposed ID requirements in the bill, along with strict new requirements for voter registration, would prevent many people from voting. The bill would also allow the Homeland Security Department to review state voter rolls, which Democrats say could lead to voters being purged. <\/p>\n

The new rules would be \u201ca bureaucratic nightmare,\u201d said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey want to end vote by mail, end registering online, end registering on college campuses and in churches, and even end registering at the DMV, where of course you have to show ID,\u201d Schumer said. <\/p>\n

Timing ahead is unclear <\/p>\n

Trump, backed by an enthusiastic online campaign of his supporters, has made the voting legislation his top congressional priority. He has said it is necessary for Republicans to win the midterm elections<\/a> – even after Republicans won the White House and Congress without it in 2024. <\/p>\n

\u201cTHERE IS NOTHING THAT IS MORE IMPORTANT FOR THE U.S.A.,\u201d Trump posted on social media on Friday. <\/p>\n

He has pressured Thune to scrap the filibuster, but Thune has stood firm in saying that there isn\u2019t enough Republican support to do that<\/a>. He is expected to eventually end the floor debate and call for a vote to move forward on the legislation, and Democrats would then block the bill.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not clear when that will happen \u2014 or if Trump will be satisfied enough with days or weeks of debate to lift his promised blockade on other legislation. <\/p>\n

Thune would only say on Saturday that \u201cat some point that\u2019s a that\u2019s a possibility\u201d that Republicans will start the process of ending the debate. The Senate is scheduled to leave town at the end of next week for a two-week spring recess. <\/p>\n

Republican senators have largely backed Thune\u2019s efforts. But they say the end point is uncertain, for now. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d when it will end, Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said. \u201cI don\u2019t think anybody does.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The Senate on Saturday blocked an amendment that would ban transgender athletes from playing in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20567,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[142],"tags":[2694,477,12,15075,1665,4217,3461,15076,1739,475,2512,3789,51,6844,6237,6238,12204,11999,2194,11904,1194],"class_list":{"0":"post-20566","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-john-thune","8":"tag-charles-schumer","9":"tag-congress","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-gender-in-sports","12":"tag-general-news","13":"tag-government-and-politics","14":"tag-joe-biden","15":"tag-john-husted","16":"tag-john-kennedy","17":"tag-john-thune","18":"tag-legislation","19":"tag-ohio","20":"tag-politics","21":"tag-u-s-democratic-party","22":"tag-u-s-department-of-homeland-security","23":"tag-u-s-republican-party","24":"tag-united-states-congress","25":"tag-united-states-house-of-representatives","26":"tag-voting","27":"tag-voting-rights","28":"tag-washington-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116382467520560143","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}