President Donald Trump threatened to withhold his signature on any bill that arrives on his desk until Congress enacts a controversial election measure known as the SAVE America Act, which would make it much harder for many Americans to vote.
Trump said in a Truth Social post on Sunday, “It must be done immediately. It supersedes everything else. MUST GO TO THE FRONT OF THE LINE. I, as President, will not sign other Bills until this is passed.”
The SAVE America Act would require proof of citizenship and photo ID to vote. There has been a pressure campaign of enormous proportions by right-wing commentators and Congressional Republicans over the measure.
The House passed the bill last month, but it is short of the 60-vote filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. The Republicans control the upper house by a 53-47 majority, and the Democrats have promised to oppose it.
That has caused some republicans to propose subverting the filibuster, which Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D, has up to now resisted. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., claimed that the possibility of gridlock does not alter the position of the Democrats.
He wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter), “If Trump is saying he won’t sign any bills until the SAVE Act is passed, then so be it: there will be total gridlock in the Senate. Senate Democrats will not help pass the SAVE Act under any circumstances.”
He further wrote that Trump has also urged Congress to deliver him an enhanced version of the bill, “NOT THE WATERED DOWN VERSION.”
Trump said, “GO FOR THE GOLD: MUST SHOW VOTER I.D. & PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP: NO MAIL-IN BALLOTS EXCEPT FOR MILITARY – ILLNESS, DISABILITY, TRAVEL: NO MEN IN WOMEN’S SPORTS: NO TRANSGENDER MUTILIZATION FOR CHILDREN! DO NOT FAIL!!!”
The demands of Trump would involve the House passing another version of the SAVE America Act – it has already passed two versions of the measure in this Congress. That is hardly guaranteed when Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., can call on at best a one-vote majority in the House.
Trump’s threatened signature blockade is also a threat to other must-pass legislation, like a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security for the remainder of the fiscal year. The department was closed down due to the lapsed funding last month.
There are new limits that Democrats are seeking on the deportation activities of Trump since two American citizens were shot and killed by federal immigration agents.
A signature blockade can have both positive and negative effects. Trump has the authority to veto any bill presented to him and to reintroduce it into Congress, which can override the veto by a majority of two-thirds in each chamber.
In case Congress adjourns, the president is also allowed to hold the bill pending 10 days, and it will never pass into law, also referred to as a “pocket veto.”
However, an unsigned bill that remains pending for 10 days when Congress is in session is enacted into law by default, and Congress can break a signature blockade by simply remaining in session.
It is also time running out on the republicans who have a tough mid-term election ahead in November, which could, in all probability, see the democrats reclaim the majority in either or both chambers.
The time frame to push through any item on the GOP or the Trump legislative wish list is already tight, and polls show that voters are already souring on Trump and his economy before the elections.
A poll published by NBC News on Sunday showed that 62 per cent of voters disapprove of how Trump handled inflation and the cost of living, which is the primary concern of voters in the poll. Democrats held a six-point lead in the generic congressional ballot in the survey.
