Senate Republican leadership is not budging against pressure to use a so-called talking filibuster to pass the party\u2019s voter identification\u00a0legislation, despite President Donald Trump\u2019s adding weight to that dogpile this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have the votes either to proceed to get on a talking filibuster, nor to sustain one if we got on it,\u201d said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., on Tuesday afternoon. \u201cBut that\u2019s just a function of math and there isn\u2019t anything I can do about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, Thune is planning to hold some type of vote on the legislation as soon as next week, though the details aren\u2019t yet clear.<\/p>\n
Senate Republicans face a growing call<\/a> to try to push a voter ID bill named the SAVE America Act through the Senate via a simple-majority vote using a talking filibuster \u2014\u00a0essentially, forcing Democrats to occupy the floor and talk nonstop, until one side or the other backs down.\u00a0The measure currently lacks the 60 votes that would otherwise be needed to\u00a0end debate.<\/p>\n But Thune and others have repeatedly stressed both inside the Senate Republican Conference and to the online MAGA-world: The math just ain\u2019t mathing. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n That calculus continues to be complicated further by demands and pressure from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve conveyed that to him,\u201d Thune said of Trump about the Senate\u2019s current problem securing enough votes to pass the measure. \u201cBut we will continue to make that argument, because I think it\u2019s important that everybody understand this really is about the votes. It\u2019s about the math.\u201d<\/p>\n A White House threat<\/p>\n The president has threatened to not sign <\/a>bills other than one that would fund the Department of Homeland Security until the election bill passes, saying the voter ID measure \u201csupersedes everything else.\u201d But he\u2019s also further complicated the bill\u2019s potential to pass by adding changes he wants\u00a0to see in the legislation.<\/p>\n The bill\u00a0passed<\/a> the House last month and would require Americans to prove their citizenship when registering to vote and present photo identification when casting a ballot.<\/p>\n But the president has now demanded the bill go further and include bans on all mail-in ballots, gender-affirming surgeries for minors and transgender athletes participating in women\u2019s sports.<\/p>\n White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt at a Tuesday press briefing said Trump \u201cwants all options on the table, and he wants to sign it to move as quickly as possible through whatever means necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n She called his vision of a broader SAVE America Act \u201ccountry-saving legislation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s threat of not signing legislation hasn\u2019t caused a fire-alarm on Capitol Hill, yet.\u00a0<\/p>\n Speaker Mike Johnson, during a livestreamed discussion from the House Republican\u2019s retreat in Florida, said Trump\u2019s vow would not mean the end of legislating this year, noting that legislation can become law<\/a> without Trump\u2019s signature after 10 days.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I understand what he\u2019s trying to emphasize, the importance of this priority to, not just to him, but to the American people and to all of us,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I think he wants to send a signal to the Senate in particular that he\u2019s very serious about this and I think the signal\u2019s been received.\u201d<\/p>\n Talking filibuster<\/p>\n Senate leadership\u00a0\u2014 despite supporting the policy in the voter ID bill \u2014 has been pessimistic about a talking filibuster in the Senate, warning of a monthslong suck of precious floor time and rippling implications from changing the fabric of the chamber\u2019s procedure. It\u2019s also not clear what a talking filibuster would look like in the 21st century, and how long Democrats would occupy the floor.<\/p>\n But \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d advocates outside Capitol Hill and influencers, as well as a group of House members and senators, have continued to push Thune via social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., posted to X<\/a> that \u201cOur U.S. Senate needs to nuke the filibuster and get on with it.\u201d<\/p>\n Others, like billionaire Elon Musk, have become more active in the online campaign in recent days, even sharing a list of senators supposedly not in support of the talking filibuster for constituents to contact. That list<\/a> was created by former Rep. Mark Meadows, who served as Trump\u2019s chief of staff during his first term.<\/p>\n On Monday, Thune blamed the \u201cpaid influencer ecosystem\u201d for pushing the narrative.\u00a0<\/p>\n