The House and Senate are in session at the same time this week for the last time until mid-September, and it’s not sitting well with MAGA members who are demanding action on voting legislation.
The House is trying to cram in its final activity this week before leaving for August recess and not returning for five full weeks before skipping town again for Labor Day. The Senate is working through August 7 but is then out of town until mid-September.
But members of Congress like Sen. Mike Lee have called for the August recess to be canceled until the SAVE America Act is passed.
“We don’t have a lack of time, Mr. President; we have a lack of spine. Don’t ever confuse lack of time with lack of spine because they’re two very different things. We truly lacked time; that would be one thing. We’ve got time; we’re just choosing not to use it,” Lee said on the floor.
He was not the only one. Sen. Rick Scott called the idea of the House and Senate not being in session at the same time until September 14 after this week as “insane.”
“We STILL need to pass the SAVE America Act and prevent Democrats from shutting down the government in October,” Scott wrote on X. “This would NOT fly in the business world. We need to stay here until we get ALL our work done.”
He previously has complained about Congress working just two and a half days a week, while he, as a business guy, works seven days a week.
While some MAGA Republicans are demanding the Senate pass the Trump-backed legislation, it does not appear to have the necessary votes even among Senate Republicans.
The legislation’s lack of a path forward has been the same issue in the Senate for months, despite the president repeatedly ranting about the need to end the filibuster, which also does not have the necessary support among Republicans.
The senators’ demand echoes some in the MAGA universe where influencers have been calling for the Senate to act and have taken aim at Majority Leader John Thune.
While GOP members have framed the SAVE America Act as legislation requiring proof of citizenship and ID to vote, it goes much further than that. It is already the law that one needs to be a U.S. citizen to vote in federal and state elections, and in most states, a REAL ID alone would not meet the requirements to register.
The Republican controlled House has passed versions of the SAVE America Act multiple times, including in February. But it has failed to move forward in the Senate.
This week, House Speaker Mike Johnson is attempting to push forward with a series of efforts, including a new reconciliation bill that would include defense spending but also some provisions of the SAVE America Act. It’s not clear whether it will receive enough GOP support in the House.
Passing legislation through the reconciliation process would allow them to move in the Senate with a simple majority and avoid the threat of a filibuster, but it’s not clear such a bill would survive anyway ahead of the midterms.
