WASHINGTON — Work in the U.S. House of Representatives has, once again, been ground to a halt by the far right wing of the Republican Party, as the Freedom Caucus joined President Donald Trump’s demand that no legislation moves until Senate Republicans pass his sweeping election reform measure, the SAVE America Act.
“The Senate sucks,” Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) told congressional reporters at a Thursday morning press conference.
Freedom Caucus members are raising dire warnings if the measure isn’t passed before November, including a socialist takeover of America.
“We all know where this road leads. We saw it happen..two days ago in New York. We’ve seen it happen in California. The radical far left, anti-American socialists are taking over the Democratic Party, and they can’t do anything about it” Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-TN) said. “If we do not secure our elections, that is the direction the whole country will take.”
While Capitol Hill was prepared for a rare bipartisan bill signing on Wednesday, the president canceled the event and instead tripled down on his threat to bring Washington to a standstill until the national voter ID measure passes.
“This is something that the president of the United States wants to see accomplished by virtue of his actions yesterday with respect to the housing bill, but also in his messaging. He's been very clear about this,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), who was instrumental in crafting the bill, said.
There’s a problem, though: Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) says he doesn’t have the votes to pass the election measure, let alone the votes needed to overhaul the Senate’s longstanding 60-vote filibuster, as the president has demanded.
“The only question before us right now is whether the Senate will put America first or continue to put the Senate first. That's what the question is,” Roy said. “We're trying to say that the Senate needs to move forward and to force this through, using all of the tools at their disposal, and to stop hiding behind fake thresholds that the Senate itself has put in place. There is no constitutional requirement for sixty votes.”
There’s another problem now: The Senate voted late into the night last evening, canceled today’s previously planned votes, started its two-week-long July Fourth recess early and isn’t scheduled to be back in town until July 13th.
“I personally think we should not have any more legislation until the Senate comes back in session,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) said. “And they're out for two weeks, ironically.”
The House was out last week, while the Senate was in session. Still, House Republicans have had enough.
“We are absolutely fed up with the Senate and their leadership,” Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson is heading to the White House this afternoon for a 2 pm meeting with the president. The speaker’s expected to try and get the president to relent from his SAVE America Act demands.
If the president refuses, then the House will remain at a halt by the far right wing of the speaker’s own party. If that happens, political watchers expect the speaker to gavel the House out of session, cancel next week’s planned House session and join their Senate colleagues on an extended Fourth of July vacation.