Grassroots pressure from GOP activist Scott Presler has intensified a growing standoff between House conservatives and Senate Republicans over the SAVE America Act, as allies of President Donald Trump push to block other legislation until the voter identification bill reaches the president’s desk.
Presler teamed up with the Republican Study Committee earlier this year as part of the larger goal of getting the bill, which requires proof of citizenship to register to vote and an ID to cast a ballot, to Trump’s desk. The effort has since evolved into a standoff with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), who has argued there is insufficient support for the bill to overcome the 60-vote filibuster threshold.
But Pressler and House Republicans, including Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), are not willing to take no for an answer. Luna and other House conservatives have vowed to hold up legislation from passing the House until the Senate moves the SAVE America Act.
In this pressure campaign, Presler has been meeting with Republicans from the RSC and House Freedom Caucus to keep the momentum going and reassure members they have outside support.
“Even if they are getting pressure to do ‘yes’ votes, my goal is to show any member of Congress that will continue to vote ‘no’ until the SAVE America Act is passed into law that we have their back,” Presler said.
After joining an RSC member-only lunch, Presler praised the committee, saying he couldn’t “have planned a more productive day if I wanted to,” and added that, with help, it can “deliver a 218 vote victory for the SAVE America Act.”
Luna, who has been one of Thune’s biggest critics in Congress, has also called on Trump to hold off on issuing new Senate endorsements until the chamber passes the bill.
“The majority of these senators, they grovel for President Trump’s support and then they fail to deliver on the basics,” Luna said last month during an appearance on Newsmax.
THE ‘TALKING FILIBUSTER,’ EXPLAINED
In an effort to appease SAVE Act proponents, the White House proposed a method earlier this year called a “talking filibuster.” This would require members to speak physically on the Senate floor to block a bill.
The approach would aim to make obstruction more difficult to sustain, though it would not resolve the underlying vote shortfall. But Thune has reiterated that even with this procedural shift, the bill faces an uphill battle in the Senate.
“We don’t have the votes either to proceed, get on, a talking filibuster nor to sustain one,” Thune has argued on multiple occasions. “That is just a function of math. There isn’t anything I can do. I’m the one that has to be a clear-eyed realist about what we can achieve.”
Thune has aimed to balance the angry Make America Great Again base, Trump, Senate procedure, and vote math, but Presler has been relentless.
“This is day 70 of asking @LeaderJohnThune to pass the SAVE America Act,” Presler wrote to his 467,000 Instagram followers in a photo with Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL).
Presler’s pressure campaign got a big boost when Trump got on board and told House lawmakers at their policy retreat in Florida last month that the SAVE America Act was his No. 1 priority.
“If you don’t get it, big trouble, in my opinion,” the president said. “I’m for it if it takes you six months, I’m for not approving anything.… I don’t think we should approve anything until this is approved.”
While Presler has reach in the grassroots community and social media, he is not an elected official or tied to any major political action committees in the Senate, meaning his reach is limited to a pressure campaign.
Presler is the founder of Early Vote Action, a Republican grassroots organization whose mission is to increase early voting and absentee participation among Republican voters as part of a larger effort to increase conservative turnout.
The SAVE America Act standoff is already spilling into other legislative fights, including the impasse over funding the Department of Homeland Security, which has been shut down for more than a month.
House Republicans have been increasingly frustrated after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) struck a deal to accept Thune and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) deal to reopen DHS, after Johnson had previously rejected the deal.
JOHNSON WON’T OPEN DHS UNTIL THUNE MAKES GOOD ON MEGABILL PROMISE
Tensions between the House and Senate will continue as lawmakers return to Washington next week, with the push for the SAVE America Act continuing and the House aiming to pass the DHS funding deal.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Presler and Luna for comment.
