Thune cool to Trump’s demand to cancel August recess for SAVE America Act

Senate Thune cool to Trump’s demand to cancel August recess for SAVE America Act Comments: by Alexander Bolton - 07/27/26 4:12 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Alexander Bolton - 07/27/26 4:12 PM ET Comments: Link copied

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) on Monday reacted coolly to President Trump’s demand for the chamber to cancel its five-week August recess to debate the SAVE America Act, telling reporters he’s willing to do so if there’s a chance of a successful outcome but warning of wasting senators’ time with unproductive procedural votes.

Thune also acknowledged that some GOP colleagues — such as Sens. Susan Collin (Maine), Dan Sullivan (Alaska) and Jon Husted (Ohio) — could benefit from returning home to campaign ahead of the Nov. 3 election.

“Ahhh, do you guys want to be here in August? What do you think?” Thune quipped to the Capitol press corps as he walked into the Senate on Monday afternoon, implying that most denizens of Congress’s historic halls are ready for a recess after months of grueling session.

Thune then noted that the Senate has debated the election reform bill — the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act — which would require people to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote and photo identification to vote, for weeks already this year without a winning result.

“If I thought there was a path for getting a result, I’m all for it. I’m a cosponsor of the SAVE Act. We voted on it two, three, four, five times already. We had it up on the floor for an extended period of time,” he said.

“Show me how this ends. What’s the picture of victory at the end?” he said.

Several Republican senators, including Mike Lee (Utah) and Rick Scott (Fla.), say they will object to adjourning the Senate for the August recess unless the SAVE America Act is passed, but those objections could be overridden if 60 senators vote to leave town.

“We’re going to have some conversations over the course of the next couple of days,” he said. “If somebody can show me how we get an outcome, how we get a result, how we get an answer to this, I’m all for it.

“But if we’re going to be sitting here in endless quorum calls, I don’t know if that’s in anybody’s best interest,” he added, warning of the prospect of spending hours and hours next month reading through the Senate’s roster of names while the floor sits empty.

Thune also pointed out that colleagues facing tough races need to get home to campaign to keep the Senate in Republican control.

Trump on Monday demanded that Thune keep the Senate in session through August to force debate and votes on the SAVE America Act, which would need 60 votes to pass.

So far, not a single Democrat has voted for the legislation and several Republicans, including Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Thom Tillis (N.C.) and Mitch McConnell (Ky.) have also voted against it.

“John Thune should not allow the United States Senate to ‘leave town’ until it passes The Save America Act or, far better still, TERMINATES THE FILIBUSTER, where Republicans can then quickly pass everything they ever dreamed of, including a full and deep throated SAVE AMERICA ACT, the Budget, and the ever looming Debt Ceiling disaster, 1929!” Trump posted on Truth Social.