With Congress’ spring break scheduled to start this week, President Donald Trump is demanding that the Senate stay in Washington, D.C., to pass the SAVE America Act and fund the Department of Homeland Security “for Jesus.”
Rather than tackle DHS funding and the SAVE America Act separately, Trump is now pushing the Senate to bundle the two priorities together.
“I’m tying homeland security to voter identification,” Trump said, referencing the SAVE America Act, at a Make America Safe Again event in Memphis, Tennessee. The president said photo ID and proof of citizenship are the most important things to protect our homeland, “so it should be part of the homeland security bill,” he continued.
“I’m requesting that the Republican senators do this immediately. You don’t have to take a fast vote, don’t worry about Easter and going home. In fact, make this one for Jesus.” Trump said.
Trump has repeatedly insisted that the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to vote and implement nationwide voter ID, must be passed to secure American elections.
The president has also sought to expand the election integrity legislation to include other priorities, such as banning men from women’s sports and protecting children from transgender surgeries.
The Senate has sought to pursue the SAVE America Act and homeland security efforts simultaneously, but Trump told Senate Republican leadership and posted on Truth Social on Sunday that the SAVE America Act should take priority.
By Monday, Trump said that instead of pursuing these items separately, they should be packaged together.
Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., kept the Senate in Washington through the weekend to continue debating the SAVE America Act, but the president’s demand to stay in session over the Easter break is a big ask.
However, some Republican senators who believe in the urgent need for the SAVE America Act responded positively to the president’s call.
“Every Senate Republican needs to be willing to do WHATEVER it takes to get this done. If that means busting the filibuster or staying here through Easter, then so be it,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., told The Daily Signal.
“We shouldn’t even have to do this,” Tuberville continued. “But this has to be done because the radical, socialist Democrats who hate this country and President Trump are doing everything in their power to hang onto their voting base of illegal aliens—even if it means forcing TSA agents to go without pay and putting American lives at risk.”
“It’s time to grow a backbone and realize we work for the American people and not ourselves,” Tuberville added.
Like the president, House Republicans have also put pressure on the Senate to pass the SAVE America Act.
Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, implored the Senate to “not take a day off, do not take a weekend, don’t take a recess, don’t take a CODEL out of the country,” in a Newsmax interview on Monday.
“Stay on the Senate floor for as long as it takes until the Democrats cry uncle and say, ‘We will now pass SAVE America,’” Self continued. “It is that important.”
Self is one of several House Republicans who have agreed to block any Senate bills from passing in the lower chamber until the Senate passes the SAVE America Act.
Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., says he is happy to give up the two-week holiday recess to get SAVE America and DHS reopened. “I’ll stay in DC for as long as it takes!” said Fine on X.
Today he announced that funding the Department of Homeland Security should also be added to the bill.
