President Donald Trump is taking up another strategy to pass his signature SAVE America Act: attaching it to other must-pass bipartisan legislation on housing and government surveillance powers.
If combined, the SAVE America Act — which he has called the “No. 1 priority” to pass ahead of the midterms — would almost certainly undermine the broader bills’ chances of getting through Congress.
To the president, it may be a risk worth taking.
“We cannot, as a Country, put up with this any longer!!!” he wrote on Truth Social Saturday. “Voter I.D., and Proof of Citizenship, must be approved, NOW. Crooked Mail-In Voting must be stopped!!! PUT IT ALL IN THE HOUSING AND FISA BILLS.”
The SAVE America Act would institute new voter ID and proof-of-citizenship requirements for federal elections while also banning transgender women from participating in women’s sports, among other provisions.
Meanwhile, House Republican leaders are planning to call a vote next week on the bipartisan housing bill, broadly similar to the White House-endorsed version that passed the Senate in March. And lawmakers have spent months negotiating a long-term reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a rule that allows the government to collect the communications of foreigners living abroad but often includes Americans’ data.
Lawmakers are working against a June 12 deadline to pass an extension, after approving a temporary six-week reprieve for the program in late April.
Bipartisan collaboration is necessary for both bills. And Republicans have little hope of securing the necessary votes from Democrats if Trump’s favored legislation enters the fray.
But the president has long advocated for passing the SAVE America Act, even at the expense of the rest of his party’s congressional agenda. Voters, by contrast, have mixed feelings, according to an April POLITICO Poll.
“It will guarantee the midterms,” he said in March. “If you don’t get it, big trouble, my opinion.”
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