{"id":20185,"date":"2026-03-18T08:47:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T08:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/the-senates-marathon-elections-debate-is-dividing-republicans-not-democrats\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T08:47:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T08:47:16","slug":"the-senates-marathon-elections-debate-is-dividing-republicans-not-democrats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/the-senates-marathon-elections-debate-is-dividing-republicans-not-democrats\/","title":{"rendered":"The Senate\u2019s marathon elections debate is dividing Republicans, not Democrats"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Senate Republicans want to use their party-line elections bill as a cudgel against Democrats. They need to stop sparring with each other first.<\/p>\n

Republicans kicked off debate Tuesday on the SAVE America Act, a House-passed bill that would create new proof-of-citizenship and photo ID requirements<\/a> in order for Americans to participate in federal elections. In a bid to pacify House and Senate conservatives, a fervent base flooding their social media mentions and even President Donald Trump \u2014 who views the legislation as his \u201cNo. 1 priority\u201d \u2014 Senate Republicans are expected to spend days, if not weeks, discussing the legislation.<\/p>\n

The chances the push will succeed in passing the bill, which Democrats uniformly oppose, are miniscule. And it\u2019s not at all clear that spending two weeks on the bill will be enough to quell what has been an intense GOP-on-GOP pressure campaign that has sucked up much of the focus in the weeks leading up to Tuesday\u2019s vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll find out, you know?\u201d Senate Majority Leader John Thune said when asked if he knew if it would be enough to satisfy Trump, who has repeatedly urged Republicans to skirt the 60-vote filibuster to pass the bill. \u201cWhat I promised from the very beginning is we\u2019ll get it up and we will have a vote. I can\u2019t guarantee the result.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that Trump and others also \u201cwant us to nuke the legislative filibuster in order to do it, and that\u2019s also something I\u2019ve been very clear about \u2014 there just aren\u2019t the votes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spending more than a week of floor time on a bill that is all but guaranteed to fail isn\u2019t typically how the Senate operates. Usually, to show legislation supported by their own party can\u2019t clear the chamber\u2019s supermajority threshold, Senate leaders quickly move to end debate and prove it can\u2019t get 60 votes.<\/p>\n

But Senate Republicans are under intense pressure to show that they are fighting Democrats for \u201celection integrity\u201d \u2014 an issue they believe polls well for them but appears to be causing little heartburn for Democrats so far. Some believe forcing a \u201ctalking filibuster\u201d<\/a> where opponents have to hold the floor indefinitely will force the opposition to cave.<\/p>\n

Democratic senators shrugged off the strategy Tuesday, vowing that no matter how long Republicans drag out the debate, there is no way the election bill can garner 60 Senate votes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf MAGA Republicans want to bog down the Senate over a debate on voter suppression, Democrats are ready. We\u2019re ready to be here all day, all night, as long as it takes,\u201d Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters. \u201cSenate Democrats will never let this rotten bill move through this body.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said in an interview that Democrats will \u201cspend the next two weeks painting them as totally out of touch.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Senate is expected to stay in session late into the night and into the weekend as senators hammer each other over the bill. Thune has been careful not to outline a date certain for the end of the debate, and both parties expect the process to eat up much of the next week and a half.<\/p>\n

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) predicted \u201clate nights with us having folks on the floor as long as Republicans do \u2026 being ready for procedural motions that we\u2019ll have to respond to in real time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democrats have filed dozens of amendments to the bill, including requiring proof of citizenship to purchase an assault weapon, restoring lapsed Obamacare tax credits and tying the bill\u2019s implementation date to the price of gas. But unlike a true \u201ctalking filibuster,\u201d where they would be able to offer those amendments and force Republicans to take politically uncomfortable votes, Thune took steps Tuesday to keep tight control of the debate by calling up a series of Republican amendments.<\/p>\n

Both parties have procedural curveballs they could throw. If no one is speaking, Republicans could try to move immediately to a final vote on the bill at a simple majority, while Democrats could try to adjourn or set the bill aside altogether. They are likely to pause the debate later this week by forcing a privileged vote on a resolution limiting Trump\u2019s ability to take military action in Iran without congressional approval.<\/p>\n

But those actions appear destined to fall short of the hardball tactics demanded by the party\u2019s MAGA wing, including Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) \u2014 who is clamoring for the Senate to stay in session<\/a> until Democrats capitulate. And even some of Lee\u2019s allies are starting to acknowledge<\/a> the bill is barreling toward a 60-vote hurdle that it can\u2019t clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we do not act on an issue that commands this level of support \u2026 we should not be surprised when the American people lose confidence in our willingness to fight for them,\u201d Lee told fellow Republicans from the Senate floor Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

The initial hours of debate Tuesday were nothing out of the ordinary. Senators agreed unanimously to structure the debate, rotating which party had time to speak about the bill. There were long stretches of floor silence as the evening wore into night, and the chamber adjourned as it typically does at the end of the day. The Senate won\u2019t come back into session until noon Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Across the Capitol, the hardball tactics weren\u2019t any more effective. Some House Republicans vowed to block any Senate bill to pressure their counterparts into passing the elections overhaul, but two Senate bills already cleared<\/a> the chamber this week.<\/p>\n

Senate Republicans, meanwhile, are struggling to resolve internal divisions. Some of those are tactical, but others are substantive. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has declared her opposition to the bill as a federal overreach into traditionally state-run elections. And Trump\u2019s push to largely ban mail-in voting is a fierce point of contention that came up during the GOP\u2019s closed-door lunch Tuesday, according to three attendees granted anonymity to describe the private discussion.<\/p>\n

Amid backlash from several GOP senators, Republicans reworked a mail voting amendment with the White House\u2019s blessing to try to assuage concerned members. The change includes a state-defined \u201chardship\u201d exemption from in-person voting, according to a copy of the updated proposal obtained by Blue Light News. The amendment is expected to get a vote as part of the Senate\u2019s marathon debate, while internal discussions continue about two other Trump-requested additions: restricting trans women from competing in women\u2019s sports and banning gender-affirming surgeries for minors.<\/p>\n

That would still fall short of the talking filibuster demanded by Lee, an army of online supporters and Trump, who spoke with Lee Monday about the bill. The Utah Republican said Monday night, \u201cIf your senators don\u2019t support using the talking filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act, you might need to replace them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about Lee\u2019s comments, Thune urged his party to redirect their fury.<\/p>\n

\u201cI prefer to have our fights with Democrats,\u201d Thune said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m always someone who believes it\u2019s far better for us to have a majority in the United States Senate.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senate Republicans want to use their party-line elections bill as a cudgel against Democrats. They need to stop sparring with each other first. Republicans kicked off debate Tuesday on the SAVE America Act, a House-passed bill that would create new proof-of-citizenship and photo ID requirements in order for Americans to participate in federal elections. In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20185\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}