President Donald Trump pushed hard for Congress to pass the SAVE America Act before leaving for members’ summer recess, which began last week.
And while the House repeatedly delivered on the president’s request by passing a version of the bill a number of times over the summer, the measure repeatedly ran into roadblocks in the Senate, where a handful of Republican members – most of them retiring at the end of this term – joined Democrats in rejecting it.
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Last week, all 100 senators, including several conservatives who had publicly called for continued debate over voter-ID legislation, agreed without objection to a five-week August recess, effectively postponing consideration of the SAVE America Act until September.
The vote effectively puts future passage of the bill in question.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (S.D.) finalized the arrangement during an overnight session.
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At approximately 2:07 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 8, with Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio presiding over a largely empty chamber, Thune requested unanimous consent to move the Senate into a series of pro forma sessions.
Moreno asked whether there was any objection. No senator objected, clearing the way for the extended recess.
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The decision meant the SAVE America Act would not receive additional floor debate, amendments or a vote before senators left Washington.
The legislation includes voter-identification and proof-of-citizenship requirements for federal elections and has been a major legislative priority for President Donald Trump.
The recess followed a marathon stretch of Senate business that included the confirmation of Todd Blanche as attorney general by a 50-49 vote and passage of an interim spending measure funding the federal government through Dec. 11.
The legislation will consequently remain on hold while the Senate conducts pro forma sessions, with regular legislative business scheduled to resume on Monday, Sept. 15.
The procedural details show just how quietly the Senate’s recess agreement came together.
Late Friday, Aug. 7, Senate Majority Leader John Thune initiated what is commonly known on Capitol Hill as a “hotline,” an informal process used to determine whether any of the Senate’s 100 members planned to object to the proposed recess arrangement.
Senators’ offices were reportedly given until 11:30 p.m. to register an objection. None did.
That included Republican Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Rick Scott of Florida, both of whom had been described as supporting continued Senate consideration of the SAVE America Act rather than leaving Washington without acting on the legislation.
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Neither senator objected during the hotline process, and neither subsequently blocked the unanimous-consent agreement when it reached the Senate floor several hours later.
Under Senate procedure, unanimous consent requires exactly that: the absence of an objection from every senator participating in the process.
Any single senator could have objected and prevented the agreement from proceeding by unanimous consent. When the opportunity arrived, however, nobody did.
The result was that senators departed Washington without resolving the fight over the act, despite the public pressure from conservatives to keep the chamber in session and force action on the election legislation.
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Before senators left Washington for the extended August recess, the chamber narrowly confirmed Todd Blanche as attorney general in a 50-49 vote that left Republicans virtually no room for defections.
Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana provided a critical vote for confirmation, while GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska broke with their party and opposed Blanche.
Collins and Murkowski raised concerns about the potential weaponization of the Justice Department and an anti-weaponization fund they said could potentially benefit defendants prosecuted in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
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Blanche’s nomination had encountered Republican resistance even before reaching the Senate floor.
Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina had previously withheld their support as they negotiated concessions from the Trump administration before allowing Blanche’s nomination to advance through the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Cornyn ultimately backed Blanche’s confirmation.
This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.
