Trump’s bill to rig the midterm elections the SAVE Act is officially dead because Senate Republicans won’t change the filibuster to pass it.
The Republican legislation goes far beyond a voting ID requirement to force citizens to provide documentation to register to vote, in a move that would, among other things, disenfranchise lower-income people and women whose names change through marriage or divorce.
The SAVE Act could disenfranchise tens of millions of Americans. That’s why Democrats in the House of Representatives and the Senate refuse to support it.
Without Democratic support in the Senate, the legislation cannot overcome a filibuster, which requires 60 votes to advance a bill.
Republicans in the House of Representatives and the Senate know they can’t get 60 votes, so Trump and some of his allies in Congress got the idea that the Senate should change the filibuster.
Aside from Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and a few outliers, the idea of changing the filibuster is deeply unpopular among Senate Republicans.
The reason is that the filibuster gives senators, even when they are in the minority, the power to stop legislation from progressing.
Senate Republicans view Trump’s short-sighted thinking as a path to disaster if Democrats ever take back the Senate majority.
This protection of personal power has major implications for Trump’s efforts to manipulate the midterm elections.
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