MAGA Republicans are freaking out over the emerging plan to pass the SAVE America Act in the Senate as Congress struggles to reopen the government.
Trump over the weekend demanded that lawmakers tie his priority voting legislation to the bill to fund DHS, issuing an ultimatum to Democrats, but he already appears to be backing off.
Instead, the latest plan appears to be for the Senate to pass a bill to fund most of DHS without ICE enforcement. The Senate would then take up additional ICE funding along with the SAVE America Act through budget reconciliation.
The move would allow Senate Republicans to proceed without the help of Democrats, but the process has to abide by strict Senate rules, making it unlikely to pass in its entirety, so MAGA Republicans are already slamming it.
“It’s hard to imagine how the SAVE America Act could be passed through reconciliation,” wrote Utah Senator Mike Lee on X. “And by ‘hard’ I mean ‘essentially impossible.’”
The conservative House Freedom Caucus also freaked out at the idea and accused the Senate GOP leadership of gaslighting.
“Senate Republicans refused to force a talking filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act because it would have allowed Democrats to offer unlimited amendments,” they posted on X. “Now, Senate R’s claim they will pass SAVE America Act via reconciliation (which may not even be possible under the Senate’s arcane rules), which would… *checks notes*…allow Democrats to offer unlimited amendments.“
“This is gaslighting. The American people are not stupid and will not accept more failure theater from Republicans in Congress,” they continued.
Conservative Sean Davis, CEO of The Federalist, argued on X that there was no chance the SAVE America Act would survive the reconciliation process.
Texas Rep. Chip Roy chimed in that he agreed, writing: “And if they think we do it on suspension to set up a reconciliation play… that will not go well."
Asked whether he would back the emerging plan, Trump said he would take a hard look at it while speaking on Tuesday afternoon at the White House.
Asked specifically about the reconciliation aspect, the president said: “We’ll see about reconciliation.” Newly sworn-in DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, speaking right after Trump, indicated there was a framework to pass the SAVE America Act through the reconciliation process.
A White House official also told Daily Beast the plan, which reverses Trump’s weekend ultimatum: “Conversations are ongoing but this deal seems to be acceptable.”
The move comes as Trump and lawmakers are facing mounting pressure as the partial government shutdown runs more than five weeks and travelers at some airports are facing nightmare wait times as TSA workers call out after not being paid.
On Monday, a group of Senate Republicans rushed to the White House and it appeared that the president was already backing off his weekend stance early on Tuesday.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Tuesday indicated that the reconciliation process could be the path forward after huddling with GOP senators in his office, after saying the president’s ultimatum was not realistic.
“We’ve contemplated reconciliation for other things,” Thune told reporters on Tuesday. “We have a couple of vehicles available to us, and if we find that’s a viable path that makes sense to get some things done that we want to get done...”
Sen. James Lankford said he had not consulted the Senate parliamentarian, who makes sure legislation complies with the rules of passage, about using reconciliation to pass the SAVE America Act, but he noted Republicans had used the process just last year and Democrats had also used it when President Biden was in office.
However, when it was used in the past, some top priorities had to be left out to ensure the legislation complied with the rules.
