Senate Republicans unveiled a bipartisan stopgap funding bill Sunday that would prevent a government shutdown weeks before the 2026 midterm elections, though not every GOP lawmaker is on board. 
The continuing resolution, negotiated by Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) and Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-WA), would keep most federal agencies funded through December 11 while lawmakers continue negotiating full-year appropriations bills beyond the September 30 funding deadline.
The Senate is expected to hold an initial procedural vote Monday evening, with Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) hoping to pass the measure before lawmakers depart Washington for the August recess.
The agreement represents a different approach from the House, which passed its own stopgap funding measure largely along party lines last month. Senate Republicans instead pursued a bipartisan compromise that can clear the chamber&#8217;s 60-vote threshold, making Democratic support essential.
Collins called the legislation a &#8220;major step toward averting a damaging shutdown that only harms vital programs and federal workers.&#8221;
&#8220;This measure gives Congress the time we need to continue our work on bipartisan appropriations bills, which are always my strong preference for handling annual government funding,&#8221; Collins said in a <a href="https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/majority/sen-collins-statement-on-release-of-continuing-resolution">statement</a>.
Not every Republican supports the deal.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) blasted the compromise over the weekend, arguing it gives away too much to Democrats. 
&#8220;Will I vote for it? The short answer is no. The long answer is hell no,&#8221; Kennedy said during an interview on NBC&#8217;s <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/gop-sen-john-kennedy-says-u-s-has-lost-perspective-on-war-with-iran-full-interview-267643461813?utm_campaign=trueanthem&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter">Meet the Press</a>.
The Senate proposal includes several funding adjustments, known as anomalies, affecting programs such as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), disaster relief, national security initiatives, and shipbuilding.
The legislation also temporarily blocks implementation of a proposed Office of Management and Budget rule governing federal grant approvals, a provision Democrats argued would give the administration too much authority over distributing federal funds.
Murray <a href="https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/minority/senator-murray-on-release-of-cr-text">called</a> the Senate package &#8220;a much-improved CR to keep the government funded and avert a shutdown that no one wants.&#8221;
Even if the Senate passes the legislation this week, its path through the House remains uncertain. House Republicans approved a different continuing resolution before leaving Washington for the August recess, meaning the two chambers will need to reconcile their competing approaches before the September 30 funding deadline.
Congressional leaders have signaled that avoiding a shutdown has become an increasingly urgent priority as both parties head into a closely contested midterm election season.
If enacted, the continuing resolution would fund the federal government through December 11, giving lawmakers additional time to negotiate a longer-term spending package after the November elections.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine

The Shutdown Fight Most Republicans Don’t Want

2026 Midterms

bipartisanship

Congress

federal funding

Government Shutdown

John Kennedy

John Thune

Politics

Senate

Senate Democrats

Senate GOP

Susan Collins

U.S.

WASHINGTON — Acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte touted a new round of heavy cuts to the agency on Tuesday just hours before the Senate votes to confirm his replacement as President Donald Trump&#8217;s spy czar.
&#8220;Good News,&#8221; Pulte <a href="https://x.com/DNIPulte/status/2082069735118967004">wrote</a> on X on Tuesday. &#8220;In addition to the Historic DECLASSIFICATIONS (Transparency!) by the President, we are, this morning, Executing a 5th and Near Final Round of TERMINATIONS, an approximately 30% Staff Reduction from Weeks Ago.&#8221;
&#8220;The Intelligence Community must protect the American people, NOT the political whims of the bloated and corrupt elite class,&#8221; he added.
ODNI did not immediately respond to a request for comment clarifying how many of Tuesday&#8217;s cuts involved staff firings or staff returned to their home agencies.
The Senate is expected to vote on Pulte&#8217;s replacement, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-outmaneuvers-schumer-on-pick-for-top-federal-prosecutor">Jay Clayton</a>, at 6:30 pm ET on Tuesday evening, meaning that Pulte will likely no longer serve in the role by the end of the day.
Pulte, who came into ODNI with a mandate from President Donald Trump to “execute the immediate and needed downsizing of the office,&#8221; has focused heavily on reducing the size of the agency in recent months. His entrance came shortly after former DNI Tulsi Gabbard announced she would be leaving the agency to help her husband deal with a cancer diagnosis.
&nbsp;
<div id="attachment_1145675" style="width: 791px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hours-ahead-of-his-replacement-as-spy-czar-pulte-touts-more-dni-cuts/senate-holds-confirmation-hearing-for-jay-clayton-to-be-director-of-national-intelligence" rel="attachment wp-att-1145675"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1145675" class="wp-image-1145675 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/GettyImages-2286226941-781x576.jpg" alt="(Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Getty Images)" width="781" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/GettyImages-2286226941-781x576.jpg 781w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/GettyImages-2286226941-300x221.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/GettyImages-2286226941-768x566.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/GettyImages-2286226941.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 781px) 100vw, 781px" /></a>Jay Clayton appears before the Senate Intelligence Committee during his nomination hearing on Capitol Hill July 15, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Getty Images)</div>
Critics argue Pulte <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bill-pultes-odni-purge-triggers-intel-community-civil-war">forced</a> Gabbard out sooner than expected and say his aggressive cuts will leave ODNI too weak to effectively rein in rogue agencies like the FBI and CIA. Before Pulte arrived, Gabbard had already cut 40% of staff, which left the agency with fewer than 1,400 employees, compared to the estimated 38,000 at the FBI and 20,000 at the CIA.
The Daily Wire previously reported that Pulte was working closely with CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), both of whom have argued that ODNI has become an unnecessary layer of oversight over agencies such as the CIA and FBI.
Both Ratcliffe and Cotton are supporters of Clayton, and have publicly praised his nomination.
Ahead of Tuesday&#8217;s vote, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) accused Democrats of delaying Clayton&#8217;s confirmation despite their earlier criticism of Pulte&#8217;s appointment.
“Now Democrats have the opportunity to replace that acting official,&#8221; Thune <a href="https://www.thune.senate.gov/news/press-releases/thune-on-jay-claytons-nomination/">said</a> in a statement. “But they’re in no apparent rush to confirm a permanent director of national intelligence. They’ve opposed his nomination in committee. They’ve delayed things here on the floor. And I don’t expect we’ll see a lot of Democrat support for him in the final roll call.&#8221;

Fannie, Freddie IPOs Can Still ‘Very Much’ Happen, Pulte Says

Hours Ahead Of His Replacement as Spy Czar, Pulte Touts More DNI Cuts

Bill Pulte

Donald Trump

Jay Clayton

John Ratcliffe

odni

Tom Cotton

Tulsi Gabbard

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) lashed out at White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday after she said the president’s &#8220;patience is running out&#8221; over the failure to pass the SAVE America Act.
The back-and-forth began with a question from The Daily Caller&#8217;s Reagan Reese during the White House briefing.
“Look, the president spoke about this directly yesterday. His patience is running out. He wants to see as much of the SAVE America [Act] passed as possible by the August recess,” Leavitt said to reporters. “The American people elected overwhelmingly Republicans to lead, not just this White House, but also the House and the Senate. The House did its job. The Senate needs to do its job, too.”
A few miles away on Capitol Hill, Thune fired back, telling the White House to pick up the phone and whip the votes. 
&#8220;Well, maybe she or somebody else ought to get on the phone and get the votes. Right? It’s 50 around here. And, so, instead of pointing the finger at Republicans, they might think about going after the people who are stopping it on the floor, which is the Democrats,” Thune <a href="https://x.com/MaryMargOlohan/status/2080339641119473680?s=20">told</a> reporters in the halls of the Senate Thursday.
“And if there are Republicans that they think are gettable, get on the phone,” he added. “Let’s get them to ‘yes.’&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
THUNE: &#8220;Well, maybe she or somebody else ought to get on the phone and get the votes. Right? It’s 50 around here. And, so, instead of pointing the finger at Republicans, they might think about going after the people who are stopping it on the floor, which is the Democrats. And if… <a href="https://t.co/lRL2Yl0Pd9">https://t.co/lRL2Yl0Pd9</a>
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) <a href="https://x.com/MaryMargOlohan/status/2080339641119473680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 23, 2026</a></blockquote>
It’s the latest escalation after Trump on Wednesday ramped up his pressure campaign against Thune, urging supporters to flood his office with calls demanding action on the popular election security legislation. 
“We have to pass the SAVE America Act to defend American elections. And I have to say, Mike Johnson and Congress have done a great job, but we’re having a hard time in the Senate,” Trump said at a <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2080034029487685876?s=20">rally</a> in Georgia. “It’s like the Senate is a place where you send things when you want them to die.” 
“We’re not going to take this any longer … I’m trying to be nice,” Trump added. “Everybody call John Thune at the Senate. He’s the leader of the Republican party, and tell him to get this stuff approved!”
Trump also renewed his call to eliminate the filibuster, arguing Democrats would quickly abolish the 60-vote threshold themselves if they regain power.
“The Democrats are going to terminate the filibuster as soon as they have a chance, and then they’re going to approve Puerto Rico and D.C. as a state. They got four more senators. They’re going to end up with 12 more congressmen. They’re going to get like 40 electoral votes,” the president said. 
Trump’s remarks came hours after the House passed a third version of the election integrity measure by attaching it to the GOP-backed Stop Insider Trading Act, legislation that would ban members of Congress from buying and selling stocks.
The combined bill passed 232-198, with 13 Democrats joining Republicans to advance the measure, marking the first congressional stock-trading ban to receive a House floor vote, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-turns-up-heat-on-thune-over-save-act?author=Jacob+Wheeler&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Turns+Up+Heat+On+Thune+Over+SAVE+Act">reported</a>. 
Frustration with Thune isn’t limited to the White House. House Republicans who have repeatedly passed the legislation have also grown increasingly vocal about the Senate’s inaction.
“If John Thune has shown that he does not want to put the SAVE America Act on the Senate floor, he should step aside,” Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) <a href="https://x.com/RepOgles/status/2080028930518495258?s=20">said</a> on social media. “There are plenty of other options in the Senate capable of securing our elections as Majority Leader.”

John Thune Lashes Out At Karoline Leavitt After She Says ‘Patience Is Wearing Thin’

Elections

Karoline Leavitt

News

President Trump

Republicans

SAVE Act

SAVE America Act

Trump

U.S. Senate

White House

President Donald Trump on Wednesday ramped up his pressure campaign against Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), urging supporters to flood his office with calls demanding action on the SAVE America Act. 
“We have to pass the SAVE America Act to defend American elections. And I have to say, Mike Johnson and Congress have done a great job, but we&#8217;re having a hard time in the Senate,” Trump said at a <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2080034029487685876?s=20">rally</a> in Georgia. “It’s like the Senate is a place where you send things when you want them to die.” 
“We’re not going to take this any longer… I’m trying to be nice, Trump added. “Everybody call John Thune at the Senate, he’s the leader of the Republican party, and tell him to get this stuff approved!&#8221;
The president also renewed his call to eliminate the filibuster, arguing Democrats would quickly abolish the 60-vote threshold themselves if they regain power.
“The Democrats are going to terminate the filibuster as soon as they have a chance, and then they&#8217;re going to approve Puerto Rico and D.C. as a state. They got four more senators. They&#8217;re going to end up with 12 more congressmen. They&#8217;re going to get like 40 electoral votes,” the president said. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
.<a href="https://x.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a>: &#8220;We have to pass the SAVE America Act to defend American Elections… We’re not going to take this any longer&#8230; Right now, Congress is working to get as much of our plan as possible into the budget bill&#8230; everybody call John Thune at the Senate&#8230; and tell him to get… <a href="https://t.co/uBzhGziRSm">pic.twitter.com/uBzhGziRSm</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2080034029487685876?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 22, 2026</a></blockquote>
“But I may be crying when I&#8217;ll be sitting home, and I&#8217;ll say, I told them, they&#8217;ve got to really terminate the filibuster, get everything approved right away,” he added. 
Trump&#8217;s remarks came hours after the House passed a third version of the election integrity measure by attaching it to the GOP-backed Stop Insider Trading Act, legislation that would ban members of Congress from buying and selling stocks.
The combined bill passed 232-198, with 13 Democrats joining Republicans to advance the measure, marking the first congressional stock-trading ban to receive a House floor vote, <a href="https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/07/22/congress/house-votes-to-restrict-congress-ability-to-purchase-and-sell-stocks-01008697">according to Politico.</a>
Frustration with Thune isn&#8217;t limited to the White House. House Republicans who have repeatedly passed the legislation have also grown increasingly vocal about the Senate&#8217;s inaction.
“If John Thune has shown that he does not want to put the SAVE America Act on the Senate floor, he should step aside,” Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) <a href="https://x.com/RepOgles/status/2080028930518495258?s=20">said</a> on social media. “There are plenty of other options in the Senate capable of securing our elections as Majority Leader.” 
Republicans have also pointed to New Jersey&#8217;s recent admission that a &#8220;software error&#8221; led to thousands of non-citizens being registered to vote, arguing the situation shows the need for stronger election safeguards.
New Jersey Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill revealed Tuesday that the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) mistakenly registered roughly 6,600 non-citizens despite their indicating they were not U.S. citizens while applying for IDs and driver’s licenses between June 2023 and June 2024, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-jersey-registered-thousands-of-non-citizens-to-vote-due-to-software-error?author=Jennie+Taer&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=New+Jersey+Registered+Thousands+Of+Non-Citizens+To+Vote+Due+To+%E2%80%98Software+Error%E2%80%99">The Daily Wire reported. </a>
“These individuals answered ‘no’ when asked on a keypad whether they were a U.S. citizen when applying for drivers’ licenses and identification cards, but through no fault of their own, the system registered them anyway,” Sherrill <a href="https://x.com/GovSherrillNJ/status/2079602942722662725">wrote</a> in an X post.
Trump administration officials have said the non-citizens who illegally voted could face prosecution and deportation. 
&#8220;People need to see the consequences of voting when you&#8217;re not allowed to,” Harmeet Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, <a href="https://x.com/bennyjohnson/status/2079992093800280377?s=20">told</a> conservative podcast host Benny Johnson. 
Back on Capitol Hill, Democrats argued the stock trading ban didn&#8217;t go far enough, but ultimately opposed the bill because it included provisions from the SAVE America Act.
“Republicans have corrupted their so-called stock trading bill with a decaying piece of the SAVE American Act corpse,” Rep. Joseph Morelle (D-N.Y.) Morelle said, according to <a href="https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/07/22/congress/house-votes-to-restrict-congress-ability-to-purchase-and-sell-stocks-01008697">Politico</a>.
The bill now moves to the Senate, where it faces an uncertain path forward.

Donald Trump/John Thune

Trump Turns Up Heat On Thune Over SAVE Act

2026 elections

Democrats

Executive

Filibuster

Georgia

Insider Trading

Mike Johnson

Rally

A group of Republicans led by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) is threatening to block President Donald Trump&#8217;s push to make daylight saving time permanent. 
The Sunshine Protection Act would permanently keep clocks on daylight saving time, eliminating the twice-yearly clock changes Americans currently observe each spring and fall. The legislation passed the House by a bipartisan 308-117 vote. 
Cotton has argued that making daylight saving time permanent would create safety issues by delaying winter sunrises, particularly in northern states.
“By moving the clock back an hour in winter, permanent Daylight Saving Time would push winter sunrises to an absurdly late hour, depriving Americans of morning sunshine that’s essential for our safety and well-being,” Cotton said.
He also argued the change could push sunrise as late as 9:45 a.m. in parts of North Dakota, creating challenges for schoolchildren, construction workers, and farmers who rely on early morning daylight. 
Despite Cotton&#8217;s opposition, Trump has repeatedly urged Congress to approve the legislation.
After the bill advanced out of committee, Trump wrote that it was time for Americans to stop worrying about &#8220;the Clock&#8221; and described the current system as a &#8220;ridiculous, twice-yearly production.&#8221;
He also called permanent daylight saving time &#8220;the far more popular alternative&#8221; and urged Republicans to support the measure.
The legislation has since stalled in the Senate, where supporters must overcome objections from Cotton and other Republicans.
&#8220;I mean, the House having acted on it now, we&#8217;ll see what the interest level is in the Senate,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) told <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-faces-republican-rebellion-over-daylight-saving-time-senate-bill-nears-dead-end">Fox News.</a> “But I know that there are people who are willing to really slow things down over that issue.&#8221;
A source close to Cotton told Fox News that the Arkansas senator is &#8220;far from the only one who objects&#8221; to the bill and is working with other senators prepared to block it.
The Sunshine Protection Act was originally introduced by then-Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and later reintroduced with Sen. James Lankford (R-OK). A similar law briefly took effect during the 1970s energy crisis before Congress repealed it following backlash.
&#8220;[Daylight savings] is left over from World War I when America was trying to save lamp oil. We&#8217;re doing OK on lamp oil now, so that&#8217;s not the issue,&#8221; Lankford said. &#8220;With streetlights, with different power and things, we have — we&#8217;re in a very different situation. And I talk to a lot of folks that say they are just sick of the time change. They want to be able to lock the clock.&#8221;
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), who has also championed the legislation, welcomed its passage in the House. 
“[Daylight Saving Time] is an unnecessary, decades-old practice that’s more of an annoyance to families than [a] benefit to them,” Scott <a href="https://www.murray.senate.gov/senator-murray-reintroduces-bipartisan-sunshine-protection-act-alongside-rick-scott-to-make-daylight-saving-time-permanent-and-lock-the-clock/">said</a> in a statement, calling on his other senators to “make this common sense change” to “LOCK THE CLOCK.”
The bill currently has 18 Senate co-sponsors, including eight Democrats, according to Congress.gov. 
The legislation-tracking website GovTrack <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/119/hr139">estimates</a> the Sunshine Protection Act a 35% chance of becoming law during the current Congress. 
Congress must approve the Sunshine Protection Act before the current congressional session ends in December 2026.

Screenshot 2026-07-21 at 12.20.59 PM

One Republican Is Leading A Revolt Against Trump’s Clock Plan

Daylight Saving Time

James Lankford

Marco Rubio

Rick Scott

A national grassroots organization is pressing Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) to prioritize health care price transparency in upcoming legislative negotiations, arguing that a key pillar of President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda now hinges on congressional action.
In a letter delivered Thursday, Save Our States (SOS) urged Thune to make price transparency “a top policy priority” as Senate committees prepare to take up health care legislation in the coming weeks. The push comes as lawmakers return to Washington and begin shaping what could become the GOP’s next major domestic policy package.
“Price transparency is the essential first step to healthcare affordability and returning accountability to American health systems,” Trent England, the group’s executive director, wrote in the letter, exclusively obtained by The Daily Wire. “Patients without access to clear prices lack the power to act as consumers … often leaving them with devastating surprise medical bills after it’s too late.”
The appeal highlights the Trump administration’s health care agenda, which has elevated upfront pricing as a central reform. Under the administration’s “Great Healthcare Plan,” officials have called for requiring providers and insurers that accept Medicare or Medicaid to publicly post prices in an effort to curb hidden costs and billing surprises.
SOS is now pushing the Senate to translate that framework into statute, warning that without enforcement mechanisms, existing transparency rules risk remaining uneven or ineffective.
As part of its recommendations, the group is calling for stricter compliance requirements on hospitals and insurers, expanded transparency rules covering “shoppable” services like imaging and lab work, and standardized disclosure of real out-of-pocket costs rather than estimates.
“Giving Americans power to act as informed consumers … addresses concerns about the cost of living, wage growth, and our overall economy,” England wrote. “Making healthcare prices transparent and fostering competition will allow Americans to keep more of their hard-earned money and face less financial uncertainty.”
The renewed push comes as polling continues to show overwhelming support for transparency reforms across the political spectrum. A poll released ahead of the 2024 presidential election by <a href="https://www.patientrightsadvocate.org/blog/new-poll-an-overwhelming-92-of-americans-support-healthcare-price-transparency">PatientRightsAdvocate.org</a> found that 92 percent of likely voters support requiring hospitals and insurers to provide real prices upfront, including 94 percent of Democrats, 92 percent of independents, and 91 percent of Republicans.
The same poll found that 98 percent of voters support transparent pricing in health care, higher than support for transparency in industries like airlines, while 91 percent said upfront pricing would protect workers from hidden fees. Another 88 percent said transparency would increase competition and lower costs, and 77 percent indicated they would prefer a president who prioritizes such reforms.
The Trump administration capitalized on that favorability, reviving and expanding federal transparency efforts early in the president’s second term. In February 2025, Trump signed an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/making-america-healthy-again-by-empowering-patients-with-clear-accurate-and-actionable-healthcare-pricing-information/">executive order</a> directing federal agencies to strengthen enforcement of existing price transparency rules and require disclosure of actual, upfront healthcare prices, not estimates.
The order used transparency as a corrective measure to what it described as a system where “prices were hidden from patients and employers,” allowing hospitals and insurers to operate with “insufficient accountability” while driving up costs. It also called for standardized pricing data and more aggressive enforcement against noncompliant providers.
But more than a year later, many of those reforms remain in the implementation phase, with Congress still needed to codify the policy into law and ensure it survives beyond executive action. The letter lands as health care costs continue to rank among voters’ top domestic concerns heading into the midterm cycle, adding pressure on lawmakers to produce tangible reforms.
In the Senate, legislation such as the Patients Deserve Price Tags Act, led by Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS), has drawn bipartisan support in the upper chamber, signaling that transparency measures may be one of the few areas of health care policy capable of advancing across party lines. The bill would codify and expand existing federal requirements, though its fate remains tied to broader negotiations over a GOP health care package. With committee markups expected in the near future, SOS is escalating its push directly to Senate leadership as a broadly popular, commonsense policy with implications far beyond the health care system.
The moment represents both an opportunity and a test for Senate Republicans, who have rallied around the concept of transparency, but have yet to coalesce around a finalized legislative vehicle. Whether that urgency translates into legislative action, however, remains an open question. While the administration continues to advance its agenda and outside groups intensify their lobbying efforts, the Senate has yet to signal when, or whether, it will move a comprehensive health care package to the floor.
For now, the gap between policy alignment and legislative execution persists, leaving one of the administration’s most politically durable domestic priorities awaiting action on Capitol Hill.

John Thune 3/03/26

Hospitals Posting Real Prices Before Care Could Soon Be The New Reality

Healthcare

Trump Administration

President Donald Trump is urging Congress to use the budget reconciliation process in order to fund the Department of Homeland Security, a move that would allow Republicans to bypass the Senate filibuster.
Trump said in a <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116330487356155648" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Truth Social</a> post on Wednesday that Republicans &#8220;are going forward&#8221; with a plan to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol that &#8220;doesn’t need Radical Left Democrat votes.&#8221;
&#8220;We are going to work as fast, and as focused, as possible to replenish funding for our Border and ICE Agents, and the Radical Left Democrats won’t be able to stop us,&#8221; Trump wrote. &#8220;We will not allow them to hurt the families of these Great Patriots by defunding them. I am asking that the Bill be on my desk NO LATER than June 1st.&#8221;
Budget reconciliation allows certain legislation to pass the Senate with a simple majority, avoiding the 60-vote threshold typically required to overcome a filibuster. However, the process comes with strict rules that limit which provisions can be included.
Some Republicans have floated reconciliation as a path forward as negotiations over DHS funding remain stalled. Trump&#8217;s comments could bolster last week&#8217;s Senate-approved proposal, which did not include ICE and Border Patrol funding, as Trump noted how the reconciliation plan would be for those two agencies, <a href="https://x.com/AndrewDesiderio/status/2039390619022270576?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Punchbowl News</a> reported.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) told The Daily Wire that the approach could allow Congress to fund the agency without Democratic votes, though he also reiterated his support for eliminating the filibuster altogether. If the filibuster were scrapped for good, it would open the door for other legislation to go to Trump&#8217;s desk, such as the House-passed SAVE America Act.
&#8220;It doesn&#8217;t appear today we have the votes to get rid of the filibuster, but a year ago, we didn’t have the votes to change the rules on nominations,” Scott said, saying that he thinks Republicans are “gonna get there.”
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) floated the possibility of a “skinny reconciliation” proposal that could “move very quickly” in a Wednesday interview on <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/video/2026/04/01/rep-tom-emmer-on-the-dhs-shutdown-tsa-staffing-shortages-and-iran-war-latest.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNBC,</a> while Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) indicated a three-year funding bill for DHS could be in the works as well, according to <a href="https://x.com/BillMelugin_/status/2038634941756359075?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox News</a>.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and other Republicans have cautioned against eliminating the filibuster, warning it could open the door for Democrats to pass their agenda with a simple majority vote in the future.
“What&#8217;s happening on ICE and CBP is just showing you how radical the Left is, and these Democrat senators, they&#8217;re controlled by AOC and [New York City Mayor Zohran] Mamdani, and Chuck Schumer&#8217;s scared to death of them,” Sen. Scott said. “And so they&#8217;re playing to their far left base that hates this country. They don&#8217;t want Trump to have any success.”
The push comes as Congress remains divided over how to fund DHS. Last week, the Senate approved a measure that did not fully fund ICE and Border Patrol, while the House passed a 60-day funding bill extending DHS funding until May 22.
President Trump has also called for ending the filibuster, encouraging Thune to find the votes necessary to scrap the threshold, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/republican-senator-asks-president-trump-to-force-congresss-hand-on-dhs-shutdown?author=Cameron+Arcand&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=3&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Calls+Grow+To+Force+Congress+Back+As+DHS+Shutdown+Hinges+On+One+Move" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Wire</a> reported Monday.

President Trump Delivers The State Of The Union Address

Trump Blesses GOP Plan To End Shutdown — Without Democrats

homeland security

<div>
President Donald Trump voiced his opposition to the bipartisan Senate deal <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/congress-erupts-as-house-poised-to-reject-senate-deal-to-end-dhs-shutdown?author=Cameron+Arcand&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=3&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=Congress+Erupts+As+House+Poised+To+Reject+Senate+Deal+To+End+DHS+Shutdown">passed</a> early Friday morning to end the Department of Homeland Security shutdown.
Trump told <a href="https://x.com/JacquiHeinrich/status/2037615753868833269?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox News</a> on Friday afternoon that “it wasn&#8217;t good. It wasn&#8217;t appropriate,” specifically mentioning how the proposal does not fund ICE and Border Patrol as part of the agreement.
“You can&#8217;t have a bill that&#8217;s not going to fund any form of law enforcement &#8230; This whole thing is about the Democrats wanting to have open borders, no ICE, no border patrol. These people are crazy,” he said, according to the outlet.
The president has repeatedly called for an end to the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster rule to move legislation forward, including DHS appropriations and the SAVE America Act, which is a voter identification bill.
Trump’s comments come after Speaker Mike Johnson and many other House Republicans trashed the Senate proposal and the subsequent departure of senators for a two-week recess for Easter.
Johnson will instead push for a continuing resolution until May 22, which would temporarily fund all of DHS while a longer-term solution for the remainder of the fiscal year is negotiated.
“They’ve gone half the fiscal year without a regular paycheck; we cannot ask that of anyone,” Johnson said in reference to TSA officers, who have dealt with the brunt of both the full federal government shutdown last fall and the current shutdown.
Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-signs-executive-order-to-pay-tsa-agents?author=Cameron+Arcand&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Signs+Executive+Order+To+Pay+TSA+Agents">signed</a> an order on Friday to pay TSA agents, as travelers have faced long wait times at airports nationwide due to officer callouts and resignations.
“Republicans will do the responsible and honorable thing, and Democrats will continue to play politics,” Johnson told reporters on Friday.
However, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has already called the possibility of a continuing resolution “dead on arrival.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said his caucus plans to back the bipartisan Senate proposal, saying Republicans have sought to &#8220;create chaos&#8221; at airports nationwide.
</div>
&#8220;House Democrats are prepared to support the bill to end the Trump-Republican shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security,&#8221; Jeffries said at a press conference on Friday afternoon.
<div>
If the House of Representatives passes anything other than the Senate deal without additional amendments, it would have to return to the Senate before it could go to the president&#8217;s desk for his signature or veto.
</div>

Trump Kills Senate Bill To Re-Open DHS Without ICE Funding

Immigration

You want to know why we are having all this trouble with the TSA?
One word: Democrats.
The standoff over the funding of the Department of Homeland Security, including TSA, continues. People are waiting for hours at airports because of it. 
According to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2026/03/25/nx-s1-5760981/tsa-wait-times-lines">NPR</a>:
<blockquote>The Transportation Security Administration is experiencing the longest wait times ever in its 24-year history because of the ongoing partial shutdown, the agency&#8217;s deputy administrator, Ha Nguyen McNeill, told the House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday.
Wait times at some major airports have exceeded four hours, and employees at those airports are calling out of work at rates of 40% to 50%, McNeill told members of the committee. If this partial government shutdown continues into Friday, TSA will have missed almost $1 billion in paychecks since it began, McNeill said. …</blockquote>
McNeill thanked Trump for sending ICE agents to some major airports, &#8220;enabling TSA officers to focus on carrying out critical security screening duties during this challenging time for our agency.”
TSA may have to close smaller airports due to understaffing, she said, and she worried the agency will continue to lose officers to more steady jobs and fail to attract new talent.
This is crazy town. It&#8217;s insanity.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2397-sub?elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
It&#8217;s happening because Democrats have decided that posturing over ICE is more important than basic safety standards and citizen protections all over the United States. 
Senate majority leader John Thune is not wrong when he says that Democrats seem to believe that the current shutdown is good for their left-wing base. For them, it&#8217;s all about politics, and it always has been.
In last fall’s shutdown by the Democrats, the whole government was shut down for 46 days. Remember Chuck Schumer saying, “Every day gets better for us”? Now you have Hawaii senator Brian Schatz, a member of the Democrat leadership in this shutdown, saying. “We are very serene.”
It’s all playing politics and has been from the beginning. They think this is really good with their base. Their left-wing base won&#8217;t take yes for an answer, and so the Democrats won’t either. But they&#8217;re going to have to, because at some point, people will realize that it is the Democrats who are blockading and have been blockading funding to the Department of Homeland Security.
This is very simple. The Democrats are shutting down the Department of Homeland Security. Everyone knows this. All they have to do is pass a clean funding bill for DHS.
Instead, Democrats seem to think they can insult their way to political victory.
Jimmy Kimmel randomly insulted the new DHS secretary, Markwayne Mullin, for the great crime of being a plumber, which is a weird take from Jimmy Kimmel, who was a shock-jock radio sports guy.
I was informed that it&#8217;s good that AOC was a bartender, but it&#8217;s bad that a senator who is now running DHS was a plumber?
Why?
Democrats are going even harder than that.
Brandon Johnson, the ridiculous mayor of Chicago, debuted his own snowplow truck festooned with a banner stating “Abolish ICE,” because he&#8217;s abolishing genuine ice, but he also wants to abolish ICE. 
Genius-level politicking.
Rep. Thomas Suozzi is arguing for full-scale legalization of illegal immigrants.
Democrats seem to believe that illegal immigrants roaming free is more important than you being able to get to your plane on time.
How pathetic is the Left on these issues?
The Loyola University of Chicago student newspaper —the campus newspaper of murdered student Sheridan Gorman — issued a formal apology for calling her murderer an illegal immigrant.
I&#8217;m not kidding. She was murdered, and the student newspaper stated, “In the body of the original post, we describe the man who was charged as an illegal immigrant using language provided by the Department of Homeland Security. That language does not align with the Associated Press style, nor does it align with the values of this newspaper. No human&#8217;s existence is illegal, and we quickly changed our wording to reflect that. We acknowledge the harm such language can cause, and the power and importance of the words we choose to use.” 
Ridiculous.
No one says that a human&#8217;s existence is illegal. But the term is not illegal human. The term is illegal immigrant.
They are more concerned about the terminology used to address illegal immigration than they are about the fact that an illegal immigrant allegedly murdered one of their students.
The Democrats aren&#8217;t just defending illegal immigration. They&#8217;re defending crime wholesale.
A couple of years ago, we visited the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia, which was basically an open-air fentanyl market, one of the most horrifying things I&#8217;ve ever seen in person.
Now, the Philadelphia D.A. Larry Krasner is threatening to prosecute IRS agents.
This is how crazy Democrats are. They believe that ICE agents ought to be prosecuted, but illegal immigrants ought not, and you should wait in line at the airport because of this.
The open lawbreaking in Philadelphia and the open anti-Americanism are astonishing. Pro-Iran, pro-Hamas, pro-terrorist protesters in Philadelphia even openly celebrated the killing of American troops.
For many of these folks, the lawbreaking is the point. The anti-Americanism is the point.
It makes you wonder on a broader level: Why do so many people in the Democratic Party seem so sanguine about a wide-open border, about importing people that we can&#8217;t vet, about allowing the taxpayer to pay for all these bills?
The answer is that a lot of the people in the Democratic Party are totally fine with anti-Americanism. They like anti-Americanism.
Ilhan Omar, another immigrant we never should have admitted to the United States, showed her wild hatred for America and our allies, ranting:
<blockquote>I&#8217;ve lived through war. I know it is not a game. It is never a one-time cost. It cannot be reduced to a soundbite by politicians who have no regard for the cost of human life when it comes to warfare. War is not paid for a dollar alone. It is paid in the lives of young Americans who we sent to fight this war.</blockquote>
Her pretending that she gives a damn about American soldiers is really galling. This is a woman who wrote a letter of support to a judge for a person who tried to join ISIS. This is a woman who said “something happened to some people” regarding 9/11.
Ilhan Omar has yet to find a terrorist group she cannot find some sort of excuse for.
All of this, of course, is part and parcel of a third-world strategy to undermine the United States. It suggests that people suffering in the Third World are the fault of the United States, and thus the United States must pay.
And all of this falls under the rubric of the Democratic Party not giving a damn about Americans.

Senate GOP Rejects Democrats’ Latest Bid To End DHS Shutdown

You’re In An Endless TSA Line Because Of Democrats

Ben Shapiro

Chuck Schumer

Jimmy Kimmel

Opinion

Welcome to this week’s episode of “What is John Thune Doin’?” This is the show where we try to answer the questions, “Who is John Thune?” and “What is he doin’?”
To answer the first question first: John Thune, a Republican Senator, is the Senate Majority Leader. Now, those of you who aren’t familiar with how our government works may want to know: What does the American Senate do exactly? And the answer is: the American Senate does exactly nothing.
And you may say: “Well, if John Thune is the Senate Majority Leader and the Senate does nothing, then what is John Thune … doin’?”
Good question. That’s why we’re here.
To get to the bottom of this, our reporters met with John Thune for an hour-long interview. Unfortunately, shortly after the interview ended, they realized they hadn’t actually been talking to John Thune, but had instead interviewed the statue of Senator John Clayton in the Capitol Rotunda. In their defense, the statue just stands around all day, so it was an easy mistake to make.
Undeterred, our reporters proceeded to go to John Thune’s office, but accidentally ended up in a dark broom closet. There, they began to interview a mop, until they realized that couldn’t be John Thune, because a mop is actually good for something. Like, if your kid spills his juice on the floor, you can clean it up with a mop. Which is actually pretty useful. So definitely not John Thune.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1270-when-will-it-ever-end?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974735 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-1024x171.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-1024x171.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-300x50.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-768x128.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-1536x256.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now.jpg 1800w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
But here at the Daily Wire, we don’t stop searching just because we can’t find the answers. In fact, we don’t even stop talking when we can’t find the answers. In spite of all our setbacks, we were determined to learn: What is John Thune doin’?
To help us in our search, we developed this handy Q and A.
Q: What is John Thune doin’? 
A: Well, that’s what we’re trying to find out.
Q: But hasn’t President Trump asked John Thune to pass the SAVE America Act, which requires voters to have a picture ID?
A: Yes, he has. 
Q: And doesn’t the SAVE America Act have the support of, like, a million percent of Americans?
A: Give or take a few percentage points, yes, it does.
Q: So… What is John Thune doin’?
A: You keep asking me that. Look, to be fair, there are some controversial parts of the SAVE Act. For instance, it bans transgender surgery on minors. This is a very divisive issue because, while 100% of Americans understand that sexually mutilating children is a Nazi-level atrocity, as many as 37% believe that pretending it’s okay makes them seem nice. Likewise, while 71% of Democrat voters support requiring voter ID, 98% of Democrat politicians oppose it, because, as Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer has said, “The Democrat party is a criminal organization in which all the criminals are obviously crazy, so if we can’t cheat at the polls, we’ll never win another election.”
Q: Wait. Chuck Schumer actually said that?
A: Maybe that was a dream I had. I’m not sure.
Q: So if the SAVE Act is so popular, why can’t John Thune get it passed?
A: Because under the filibuster rule, he needs 60 votes, and the Democrats won’t budge because of what Chuck Schumer said in my dream.
Q: So why doesn’t John Thune get rid of the filibuster?
A: Ah, because without the filibuster, when the Democrats win back power, they’ll pack the Supreme Court and steal elections by making Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico into states.
Q: What will the Democrats do if they win back power with the filibuster in place?
A: Then they’ll get rid of the filibuster, pack the Supreme Court, and steal elections by making Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico into states.
Q: So… what is John Thune even doin’?
A: All right, this Q and A isn’t getting us anywhere. To get at the essential nature of John Thune, we’re just going to have to interview another statue. Really, any random piece of marble will do. Or just a rock lying around somewhere. Even an empty space. Personally, I’d be happy to interview an empty space, if only I could find John Thune.
* * *
This excerpt is taken from the opening satirical monologue of “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-andrew-klavan-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Andrew Klavan Show</a>.”
Andrew Klavan is the host of “The Andrew Klavan Show” at The Daily Wire. Klavan is the bestselling author of numerous books, including the Cameron Winter Mystery series. The fifth installment, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/After-That-Cameron-Winter-Mysteries/dp/1613166869/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3EGZUC370LG46&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Y_NI0mDOKeowShheDQTVx5NH-fAeimJoCD56_T0Acpl8C0mup7uJf-nGGSRLEItaaekoDnvS2vWLMa4Zd2UBXQ8Y-g-P502jOWz-Y8IX3ZQsdlO7WMLrg1xIhNoKmjCorSWUR4C2l_RbiZ7apJ1MfPzGOrrEf7AdAXX6xwnJRVP_XqUfWuMuVthTWscaU3P4vgmS86-96n-721enHfX12CFQWTajqFbVnrsDkexfUf4.6_gTH6h1Bb9Pn375QdF_VAVZSayDvjQBBKGXE-MTiFo&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=klavan&amp;qid=1754049918&amp;sprefix=%2Caps%2C80&amp;sr=8-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">After That, The Dark,</a> is NOW AVAILABLE. Follow him on X: <a href="https://x.com/andrewklavan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@andrewklavan</a>.
The views expressed in this satirical piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Does Anyone Know What John Thune Actually Does?

Andrew Klavan

Humor

Satire

U.S. Capitol

A hot debate has now broken out in the Republican Party over the so-called SAVE Act.
Republicans support the SAVE Act, which would force voter ID nationally. Democrats in the Senate have been holding it up.
President Trump correctly <a href="https://www.c-span.org/program/white-house-event/president-trump-addresses-house-republicans-at-annual-retreat/674954">points out </a>that the SAVE Act is quite popular with Americans.
“Even the Democrats — you saw the numbers today?— Democrats voted 86% that this stuff should be passed,” he noted. “With the Republicans, you&#8217;re at 98%. But Democrats are at 86%, except for the people that run the Democrat Party, because they want to try and win elections illegally. The only reason you vote against voter I.D. is because you want to cheat. There&#8217;s no other reason. They come up with reasons; they say it&#8217;s racist. That&#8217;s their number one: racist. Then they have to explain it, and they&#8217;re just sitting there mumbling. They can&#8217;t explain it.”
President Trump has also been having fun <a href="https://www.c-span.org/program/white-house-event/president-trump-addresses-house-republicans-at-annual-retreat/674954">mocking</a> Chuck Schumer: “It&#8217;s the easiest thing we have. Now the problem is you call it the SAVE Act, and nobody knew what the hell the SAVE Act was. &#8230; It&#8217;s called ‘The Save America Act’. And I saw Schumer yesterday: ‘We will stop Save America.’ He’s getting killed. They can&#8217;t do it.”
President Trump says that Republicans should <a href="https://www.c-span.org/program/white-house-event/president-trump-addresses-house-republicans-at-annual-retreat/674954">not approve anything</a> until the SAVE Act passes:
“But they have to get it done. Because if we don&#8217;t get this done, if it takes six months, I&#8217;m for not approving anything. I don&#8217;t think we should approve anything until this is approved. And they can&#8217;t win politically. Look, you have them in a corner, and they&#8217;re listening to every word I&#8217;m saying. It doesn&#8217;t matter because they can&#8217;t win it politically. Because when they say, ‘We don&#8217;t want voter identification. We don&#8217;t want proof of citizenship,” all these things are just losers for them.”
Chuck Schumer, for his part, keeps arguing that if we clean the voter rolls of people who have moved or are dead and require people to use voter ID, somehow this is going to result in mass voter disenfranchisement, a proposition that pretty much no one actually agrees with. 
“It allows ICE to kick tens of millions of people off the rolls, off the rolls, and they don&#8217;t tell them until Election Day,” he <a href="https://www.c-span.org/program/news-conference/senate-democratic-agenda/675075">huffed</a>. “And you show them, you say. ‘You&#8217;re not registered anymore, you&#8217;re not registered here, you&#8217;re not on the rolls.’ And they say, ‘I didn&#8217;t know that.’ This is a bill that destroys the country. And it is not about showing ID when you show up to vote. It&#8217;s about the voter registration rolls, destroying them, purging them, not letting people know, and taking the rights in an algorithm put together by ICE, put together by DOGE and Musk. It&#8217;s an outrage.” 
If you just say DOGE or Musk three times in a row, Beetlejuice appears, according to Chuck Schumer.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2385-iranian-propaganda-syndrome?elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
This is silly. If you can&#8217;t abide by the law with regard to voting, you shouldn&#8217;t vote. And if you moved and you didn&#8217;t tell them you moved, then you probably should tell them you moved. Democrats trying to turn basic adult functions into some sort of Mensa test are lying. It’s not that hard to register to vote. It&#8217;s not hard to determine where and how to vote. People have been figuring it out for decades.
But now, because Democrats are trying to filibuster the SAVE Act in the Senate, to prevent it from passing by forcing Republicans to find 60 votes in the Senate, President Trump is talking about killing the filibuster.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, by contrast, says, no, we&#8217;re not doing that.
“We don&#8217;t have the votes either to proceed, get on a talking filibuster, nor to sustain one if we got on it,” he <a href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-EQvN-hLoz0">stated</a>. “But that is just a function of math. &#8230; I understand the president&#8217;s got a passion to see this issue addressed, as we all do. We’ll continue to make that argument because I think it&#8217;s important that everybody understands this is really about the votes. It&#8217;s about the math.”
A lot of people are asking, why doesn&#8217;t Thune kill the filibuster? The answer is simple. He&#8217;s concerned if Republicans kill the filibuster, the next time the Democrats have a majority in the House and the Senate and run the presidency, they simply run roughshod over Republicans and essentially end any chance of possible parity in future elections, all with just 51 votes. They add new states, they add new senators, and they change the voting rules and all the rest.
There have been two arguments that have been put out there to counter John Thune’s argument. First, there&#8217;s the argument that Republicans should end what&#8217;s known as the “talking filibuster.” When most people think about the filibuster, they think of Jimmy Stewart talking for hours until he faints in the film “Mr. Smith goes to Washington.”
It takes 60 votes to ensure “cloture,” which means to stop a talking filibuster. Under Senate Rule 19, each senator can speak twice per day. Members of the same party can hold the floor continuously. Theoretically, Johnson could force Democrats to do that, get up there and just talk and talk and talk and talk.
In the past, however, opposing parties have allowed the so-called “silent filibuster,” a filibuster that all agree would be possible in the absence of talking for days at a time. People basically say, “You don&#8217;t have 60 votes. Instead of making us talk for weeks on end, we are not going to do that. You don’t have 60 votes to kill it anyway.”
So why doesn&#8217;t John Thune kill the silent filibuster? There are a few practical reasons. First, if 47 Democrats each gave six-hour speeches and did that continuously in a cycle, they could stop the business of the Senate for months. The only way to keep the Senate in session, in order to keep the pressure on Democrats to keep talking, would be for Republicans to maintain a quorum, meaning 51 senators nearby. If they didn&#8217;t have a quorum, if somebody goes home and suddenly there are 49 senators, Democrats can move to adjourn the session, the clock restarts, and all the senators can speak twice again. Which means that killing the silent filibuster basically ensures pain, but not gain.
That&#8217;s not going to stop critics from attacking Senator Thune and other Republicans as somehow feeble or insufficient in their defense of conservative policy. That&#8217;s always the rap from people in my industry toward politicians: “The reason that Republicans don&#8217;t do enough is a lack of will. If only they had more Nietzschean willpower! Or maybe they&#8217;re corrupt?” 
 
But that&#8217;s not what&#8217;s happening. The simple case here is that in the Senate, which happens to be a more collegial body than the House, Republicans must always have one eye on the question of what happens when the political shoe is on the other foot.
Just as Democrats killed the judicial filibuster only to watch Republicans stack the Supreme Court, Republicans have to be careful not to kill the filibuster on other issues, just to watch Democrats ram through fundamental changes to the nature of American life and law.
Democrats are obstructing, there&#8217;s no question about it.
They aren’t interested in honest voting.

SchumerSAVE

The SAVE Act Standoff

House of Representatives

Iran

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) must &#8220;be a leader&#8221; and take the SAVE American Act across the finish line as Senate Republicans face continued pressure from voters and the White House to pass the voter ID legislation before the midterm elections.
Asked about Thune on Wednesday, Trump made it clear that the SAVE America Act remains the single most important task for the GOP-controlled Senate.
&#8220;He&#8217;s gotta be a leader,&#8221; Trump said of Thune. &#8220;He&#8217;s a leader, he&#8217;s gotta get [the votes].&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s the most popular bill put before Congress,&#8221; he added.
This week, Thune has poured cold water on a Trump-backed proposal to revert to the talking filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act. The talking filibuster would force Democrats who oppose the SAVE America Act to speak nonstop on the Senate floor if they want to block a vote, but according to Thune, a group of Republicans is not on board with changing Senate rules to meet Trump&#8217;s demand.
&#8220;The votes aren’t there, one, to nuke the filibuster, and the votes aren’t there for a talking filibuster,&#8221; Thune told reporters on Tuesday. &#8220;It’s just a reality. I’m the person who has to deliver sometimes the not-so-good news that the math doesn’t add up, but those are the facts, and there’s no getting around it.&#8221;
A <a href="https://x.com/MarkMeadows/status/2031779224470897145">list</a> put together by former White House Chief of Staff and North Carolina Congressman Mark Meadows shows that Senate Republicans are split down the middle on support for the talking filibuster. Senators who have signaled support for using the talking filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act include, Jim Banks (IN), Marsha Blackburn (TN), Ted Budd (NC), Katie Britt (AL), Bill Cassidy (LA), John Cornyn (TX), Ted Cruz (TX), Joni Ernst (IA), Bill Hagerty (TN), Josh Hawley (MO), Ron Johnson (WI), Mike Lee (UT), Cynthia Lummis (WY), Roger Marshall (KS), Dave McCormick (PA), Ashley Moody (FL), Bernie Moreno (OH), Markwayne Mullin (OK), Rand Paul (KY), Jim Risch (ID), Eric Schmitt (MO), Rick Scott (FL), Tim Scott (SC), Tim Sheehy (MT), Dan Sullivan (AK), and Tommy Tuberville (AL).
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is the only Republican senator who has publicly opposed the SAVE America Act, and Sen. John Curtis (R-UT) has publicly voiced his opposition to using the talking filibuster. The remaining Republican senators have not said where exactly they stand on the talking filibuster.
Republicans who are wary of using the talking filibuster argue that it would allow Democrats to control the Senate floor and propose an unlimited number of amendments that could be tacked onto the SAVE America Act.
&#8220;I understand everybody feels— they&#8217;re really invested in this, but this particular approach, in terms of the process, is much more complicated and risky than people are assuming at the moment, which is why that the Democrats looked at doing it both under [Chuck] Schumer and [Harry] Reid when they were in the majority, and opted against it,&#8221; Thune told reporters earlier this week.
The SAVE America Act also contains provisions to keep men from competing in women&#8217;s sports and to protect children from gender procedures, key issues for Trump and Republicans.
&#8220;It&#8217;s the most popular bill I think I&#8217;ve ever put before Congress,&#8221; Trump reiterated.
Recent polls show that the vast majority of Americans support voter ID requirements similar to those put forward in the SAVE America Act. While 50 Republican senators have come out in support of the bill, Republicans would need to reach 60 votes to get past the filibuster and move the legislation to a vote. Democrats have remained united in their opposition to the SAVE America Act, effectively tanking the bill&#8217;s chances.
Many Republicans, however, believe they would have a chance to pass the bill if they instituted the talking filibuster, which could wear down Democrats who oppose the Trump-backed legislation. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) told The Daily Wire on Tuesday, &#8220;Voters across the nation are demanding the SAVE America Act. If we need a few more Senators to get on board to beat a Democrat standing filibuster, that’s not a reason to give up — it’s a reason to push even harder.&#8221;
&#8220;If Republicans don’t fight hard to deliver this wildly popular legislation that President Trump has specifically requested, how can we ask Americans to entrust us with both chambers of Congress in the future?&#8221; Lee added.

‘Be A Leader’: Trump Challenges John Thune As Save America Act Faces Uncertainty

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