Several prominent Senate Republicans have joined President Donald Trump in pressuring Senate Majority Leader John Thune to cancel the Senate’s August recess to pass the SAVE America Act, the voter-integrity legislation championed by the president.
The legislation aims to prevent noncitizens from voting.
As of Monday morning, Sens. Ashley Moody, R-Fla., Rick Scott, R-Fla., Mike Lee, R-Utah, Jim Banks, R-Ind., John Kennedy, R-La., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., have come out in favor of passing the legislation before recess.
Banks stated that after New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill announced that more than 6,600 noncitizens had been accidentally registered to vote, there has been a new push among Republicans to enact the legislation.
Last week, Sherrill blamed a “software error” in her state’s Motor Vehicle Commission computer system for noncitizens being added to the voter rolls. However, the company that handles the software denied the error, claiming the state government was responsible for voter registration.
Banks’ colleagues echoed his remarks, calling on Thune to cancel the August recess.
“I hereby object to any effort to put the Senate into recess in August—at least until such time as the Senate has passed the SAVE America Act—and hereby request a roll call vote,” Lee wrote on Sunday.
“Do not assume you have my consent,” Lee added, referring to a possible effort to adjourn the Senate for the month of August. “You do not.”
“The Senate doesn’t need a summer vacation as much as the country needs the SAVE America Act,” Lee wrote on X on Sunday. “Let’s cancel recess.”
Scott responded to his colleague’s remarks and wrote that “the American people expect us to deliver. They deserve secure elections.”
Over the weekend, Kennedy also took aim at Thune during an appearance on CBS, calling on the majority leader to delay the August recess.
“Take a few extra days [before recess]! I mean no disrespect to John Thune… but I think he’s just being too cautious! He wants to spend the rest of our time talking with [Chuck] Schumer about shutting down the government,” Kennedy said. “The Graham Platner wing of his party is not going to let Schumer agree with us.”
On Monday, President Donald Trump demanded on Truth Social that Thune not allow the Senate to go on break until the legislation is passed.
“John Thune should not allow the Senate to ‘leave town’ until it passes the SAVE America Act, or, far better, TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER, where Republicans can quickly pass everything they’ve ever dreamed of, including a full and deep-throated SAVE America Act, the budget, the ever-looming debt-ceiling disaster 1929!,” the president wrote.
In the lower chamber, conservative members of Congress are furious over the leader’s inability to pass the voter-integrity legislation.
Over the weekend, Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., put out a poll on social media that asked if Thune should resign as majority leader if he doesn’t pass the legislation before the August recess.
Ninety-seven-point-six percent of respondents voted yes.
His fellow Freedom Caucus colleague, Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., blamed Senate leadership for “not even trying” to pass the bill.
“We’ve now passed the SAVE America Act five times,” Fine wrote on X on Friday. “The Senate has passed it zero times. If they were fighting for it, fine. But they’re not even trying.”
“That’s the problem,” he concluded.
As of now, the Senate will begin its recess after Aug. 7 and return in September.
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[ H/T The Daily Signal ]
