Senate Republicans Should Let The Talking Filibuster Play Out On The SAVE America Act. If Thune Is Right, It Won’t Last Very Long.
“The talking filibuster issue is on which there is not certainly a unified Republican Conference and there would have to be. If you go down that path, you’re talking about the need to table what are going to be numerous amendments and an ability to keep 50 Republicans unified pretty much on every single vote.”
That was Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) on Feb. 25 warning reporters that there are not 50 Senate Republican votes to force Senate Democrats to go through the motions of a so-called talking filibuster on the SAVE America Act, legislation that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote, for states to purge voter rolls of non-citizens and for voter identification to vote.
Under a talking filibuster, Democrats would have to hold the floor continuously to block the legislation, while Senate Republicans would require at least 50 votes plus Vice President J.D. Vance to be on-hand to defeat multiple Democratic motions to adjourn, any of which would end the legislative “day” and give each Senator another two speeches under Rule XIX of the Standing Rules of the Senate.
But if Republicans could keep the legislative “day” going, Democrats would eventually exhaust their two speeches apiece, and a final vote could be had, because under the rules “no Senator shall speak more than twice upon any one question in debate on the same legislative day without leave of the Senate, which shall be determined without debate…”
On Feb. 19, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social in favor of the approach: “We are going to have the Save America Act, one way or the other, after approval by Congress through the very proper use of the Filibuster or, at minimum, by a Talking Filibuster, à la “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”
Not happening, says Thune. “There just isn’t the support for doing that at this point,” Thune explained.
Meaning, if Thune is right, the talking filibuster once initiated would not last very long, because there would not be 50 Senate Republicans on-hand to keep the legislative “day” going, and so the maneuver would fail.
That, even though polls continue to show overwhelming majorities of Americans support measures like voter identification.
And, yet, many senators apparently would rather preserve Senate procedures like cloture rules requiring bipartisan 60-vote thresholds to advance major pieces of legislation like the SAVE America Act.
As it is, the plan now appears to be to have a doomed-to-fail cloture vote instead on the bill.
The alternative for Senate Republicans might be to do nothing to advance the talking filibuster approach to pass the SAVE America Act, and just say what they’ve already said and everyone already knows: The votes aren’t there.
The solution is to just let that happen. Force Democrats to initiate the talking filibuster. Democrats will vote to adjourn (or amend). If enough Republicans vote to adjourn (or amend) then at least they’ll be on the record. That’s fine. If Thune is right, it won’t take very long to establish there isn’t a majority to pursue the strategy, and voters will at least know where their senators stood. The President called for a vote, so make them vote.
Robert Romano is the Executive Director of Americans for Limited Government.
