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A cohort of Senate Republicans joined Democrats to sink a late-night attempt to attach a version of voter ID and citizenship verification legislation to the GOP’s bill funding federal immigration enforcement.
Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., all voted against a modified version of the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act early Thursday morning.
Their defection came during the Senate’s marathon “vote-a-rama,” where lawmakers could force votes on any number of amendments, regardless of whether they mesh with the underlying budget blueprint.
The amendment’s 48-to-50 failure crystallized what several Republicans had warned for weeks before launching a quasi-floor takeover to debate the SAVE America Act last month — it didn’t have the support among the GOP to pass.
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It appears the proposal was doomed even if Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., launched an oral filibuster to advance the measure with a simple 50-vote majority.
Still, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., pushed his version of the SAVE America Act after threatening to hold up the process until Thursday.
Kennedy acknowledged that his effort may not comport with the strict Senate rules that guide the reconciliation process, known as the Byrd Rule, but countered that critics of his move “can’t predict the future.”
“I respect everybody in this body, everybody,” Kennedy said on the Senate floor. “If you vote against this bill, I’m not going to say a word. And I’m sure as hell not going to go on social media and call you an ignorant slut. That’s not the way I roll, unless I’m pushed too far.”
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Had Kennedy’s bid been successful, it could have instructed the Senate Rules Committee to craft legislation that would require voter ID to register and cast ballots in federal elections, limit voting to Election Day only and require that ballots be counted within 36 hours of an election.
It also would have set a $10 billion ceiling for the committee to use in crafting and implementing the legislation.
Notably, McConnell chairs the Senate Rules Committee and would have been tasked with creating the new legislation if Kennedy’s idea worked out.
Collins previously said she would support the SAVE America Act, but rejected this version of the legislation. Meanwhile, Murkowski and Tillis pushed back against the proposal ever since Republicans launched their floor takeover.
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President Donald Trump has repeatedly pushed for passage of the SAVE America Act. Last month he vowed not to sign any other bills until it gets through, and said he wouldn’t approve of a “watered down version.”
Top Senate Rules Committee Democrat Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., charged that Kennedy’s amendment was a “solution in search of a problem.”
“We’ve already gone down this road for several weeks now to debate the so-called SAVE America Act,” Padilla said. “But I think, despite how you felt about the SAVE America Act, which certainly cannot pass the Senate, even my Republican colleagues would say the measure suggested by our colleague from Louisiana is an even more extreme version.”
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Kennedy’s failed attempt comes as debate over the SAVE America Act has taken a back seat in the Senate in recent weeks.
The GOP’s reconciliation gamble, reauthorizing the nation’s controversial spy powers, and the war in Iran have all dominated the Senate floor. Still, Republican leadership has no immediate plans to end its floor takeover.
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