The Senate GOP’s most consequential fight this week may not be with Democrats, but among Republicans themselves.
As the United States continues its military standoff with Iran and the Department of Homeland Security remains shut down, the Senate is preparing to take up what President Donald Trump has called his “No. 1 priority”: an election overhaul bill known as the SAVE America Act.
The legislation would require voters to provide documented proof of citizenship when registering to vote and a photo ID when casting a ballot. And Trump has pushed Republicans to go further, urging the GOP to also include provisions ending no-excuse mail-in voting, as well as unrelated provisions targeting transgender athletes and children.
Trump has also threatened to refuse to sign any other legislation until the bill passes.
But rather than building momentum, the president’s pressure campaign has exposed deep divisions among Republicans over whether to upend the Senate’s rules to force the bill through.
The measure is all but destined to fail under current rules. Because the Senate filibuster requires 60 votes to advance most legislation, Republicans would need support from Democratic senators who have shown no interest in backing the bill. At the same time, many Republicans remain wary of eliminating the decades-old rule simply to satisfy Trump’s demands.
Still, the long odds haven’t stopped hard-line conservatives from pushing for a rules change — or stopped Trump from urging Republicans to go all-in on an overhaul of election laws.
In an effort to partially appease the party’s right wing, Senate leaders plan to allow an extended series of floor speeches and votes next week. But they are stopping short of touching the filibuster itself — at least for now.
Leaders will “give everybody as much time as possible,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., told MS NOW on Thursday. “So I don’t know how long. It depends on who wants to talk, but I imagine it’s going to be a long week.”
Democrats are prepared for a battle on the floor, though it’s still unclear exactly what Republicans plan to do, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters on a press call Sunday.
“We have prepared for every eventuality, and that includes if they do amendments,” Schumer said. “But right now, we just can’t speculate, because we don’t know what they’re going to do. I don’t know if they know what they’re going to do.”
Schumer framed the debate in stark terms, saying Trump “wants to cheat.”
“He wants to steal the election, like he did in 2021, in a different way,” Schumer said.
The fight over the filibuster gained new energy last week after Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas — a longtime defender of the filibuster — announced in an op-ed he was suddenly open to changing it to pass the SAVE America Act.
Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, Cornyn insisted it was about more than this single Trump priority — or about his looming primary run-off in Texas, in which Trump has yet to make an endorsement.
“President Trump’s not going to get any cooperation at all from Democrats for the remainder of his term of office, and once he leaves office, Democrats will do the very best they can to immediately destroy the filibuster,” Cornyn said.
“So the question is,” he added, “do we sit on the sidelines and watch them block every common sense proposal that President Trump or Republicans make, or do we do something about it?”
To be sure, other Republicans agree with Cornyn that the elections bill is worth blowing up the 60-vote rule, particularly because its enactment would — some Republicans candidly admit — dramatically benefit their party in the upcoming elections.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., argued that if the GOP doesn’t eliminate the filibuster now, it would amount to his party unilaterally disarming. Democrats, he warned, would do away with the threshold “as soon as they get the chance to.”
“So what I’m suggesting at this point in time, let’s at least have a vote on the rules,” Johnson told MS NOW.
And Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., echoed the sentiment, claiming that Democrats would “do it anyway.”
Still, most Republicans aren’t interested in changing the rules, warning of the long-term repercussions if Democrats were to return to the Senate majority. (Without the filibuster, a GOP minority would have little power to block, or at the very least influence, legislation.)
“There’s no single piece of legislation worth blowing up the United States Senate over,” Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., told MS NOW.
Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., said he’s also “hesitant” to lower the 60-vote rule, arguing he doesn’t want to “harm the long-term protections of the Senate, because I think that would ultimately hurt North Carolinians.” Capito invoked a letter she signed roughly a decade ago saying she would not vote to blow up the filibuster. “I intend to stay with that,” she said. And Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said he still favors “the tradition of the legislative filibuster.” Despite those concerns, Republicans broadly support the SAVE America Act itself. The challenge is finding a path forward without Democratic votes. One option under discussion is a so-called “talking filibuster,” which would require Democrats to continuously hold the Senate floor to block the legislation. Normally, senators can simply vote to end debate through a procedural vote known as cloture — which requires 60 votes. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has warned members that an open-ended filibuster could quickly devolve into a legislative slog. “The practicality of doing it just isn’t apparent to me, simply because as soon as you start talking about amendments, the clock resets, and this will go on week after week, month after month — chew up the rest of the year,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., told MS NOW on Thursday. Of course, there are pros and cons of talking for weeks about the same bill. But Republicans are divided on the idea, especially to pass an election bill that Democrats have painted as a naked power grab meant to disenfranchise millions of legal voters. “The only thing I think we could succeed at is providing a lot of fodder for the Democrats in this year’s election, and I’m not really pro that for Republican candidates,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said. Meanwhile, Republicans like Budd are calling the legislation “a top priority.” “I’ll stay here 12 weeks,” Budd said. Even as the bill appears destined to fail, some Republicans are eager for the chance to send a message ahead of the midterms. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., told MS NOW he believes his party should spend “a bunch of time on it” and make it clear whether Democrats “want to oppose showing an ID to vote, if they support transgender surgery for minors or boys playing women’s sports.” Sen. Johnson argued having a prolonged fight allows them to “expose” the “party that doesn’t want to provide election security, the party that is happy to have your legitimate vote canceled.” But not all Republicans agree with forging ahead on this, especially a protracted debate on the floor — suggesting this could blow up in their party’s face. “I’ve never chosen to get into a fight that I knew I was going to lose,” Tillis said.
Kevin Frey is a congressional reporter for MS NOW.
Jack Fitzpatrick covers Congress for MS NOW. He previously reported for Bloomberg Government, Morning Consult and National Journal. He has bachelor's and master's degrees from Arizona State University. Recommended
