Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) appeared inclined Monday to rebuff President Donald Trump’s demand to cancel the upcoming August recess and continue trying to pass the GOP’s SAVE America Act in the latest escalation over the stalled proposal.
Thune suggested the endeavor to advance the party’s House-passed voter ID and elections bill is futile after previous failed votes and in the face of persistent opposition among several Senate Republicans, not to mention the inability to break a filibuster or nuke the 60-vote threshold.
“If somebody can show me how we get an outcome, how we get a result, how we get an answer to this, I’m all for it,” Thune told reporters at the Capitol. “But if we are going to be sitting here in endless quorum calls, I don’t know if that’s in everyone’s best interest.”
Thune noted the more than monthlong recess, set to begin Aug. 7, is also a crucial time for senators facing reelection in November to campaign back home.
The GOP leader’s remarks followed repeated attempts by Trump earlier that day through online posts and in media comments to pressure the Senate to nix its extended break unless it passes the SAVE Act or nukes the filibuster. Several Republican senators and leading proponents of the bill are vowing to oppose a vote to leave for recess. The House began its August recess last week.
“John Thune should not allow the United States Senate to ‘leave town’ until it passes The Save America Act or, far better still, TERMINATES THE FILIBUSTER, where Republicans can then quickly pass everything they ever dreamed of, including a full and deep throated SAVE AMERICA ACT, the Budget, and the ever looming Debt Ceiling disaster, 1929!” Trump posted to Truth Social. “The Dumocrats will do it on day one, and can’t believe how lucky they got with this Senate leadership. Remember, stupidity always brings LOSING & DEATH!”
Thune revealed that, at one point during Trump’s second term, the White House met with 20 Senate Republicans to lobby them to nuke the legislative filibuster and other procedural hurdles in the chamber.
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“There were 15 ‘noes,’” Thune said. “This is not an open question. It’s just a fact, and the facts don’t change. Now, if [Trump] can change the facts and start moving some of those senators who are noes into yeses, then we have a different conversation. But that’s just the reality.”
Trump told reporters earlier Monday on Air Force One that the two’s relationship was “fine” and that he hadn’t “even thought of” whether Thune should be replaced as leader. Thune told the Washington Examiner he hadn’t spoken with the president for about 10 days, prior to last week’s dustup with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt over the same legislation.