Trump, Thune clash over canceling August recess to debate SAVE America Act

Comments: by Alexander Bolton - 07/28/26 6:00 AM ET Comments: Link copied by Alexander Bolton - 07/28/26 6:00 AM ET Comments: Link copied NOW PLAYING President Trump and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) clashed on Monday over the idea of canceling the Senate’s August recess to debate the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act, Trump’s No. 1 legislative priority.

Thune warned against wasting time on a bill that has already failed multiple times on the Senate floor, while rebuffing Trump’s repeated demands that the Senate abolish the filibuster to pass the election reform bill.

The Republican leader noted that Trump has already heard directly from other GOP senators that there aren’t enough votes to change the Senate’s rules.

“If I thought there was a path to getting a result, I’m all for it. … We voted on it two, three, four, five times already, had it up on the floor for an extended period of time. Show me how this ends. What’s the picture of victory at the end?” Thune said Monday as he walked into the Capitol.

“If we are going to be sitting here in endless quorum calls, I don’t know if that’s in anybody’s best interest,” Thune said, noting that vulnerable GOP incumbents, such as Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Jon Husted (Ohio) and Dan Sullivan (Alaska), need to get back to their home states to campaign ahead of the November election.

Thune’s comments came after Trump demanded that Senate Republicans scrap the five-week August recess to pass a sweeping election reform proposal that would place restrictions on mail-in ballots, and require people to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote and present photo ID when casting a ballot.

“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,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

Trump’s closest Senate allies are further ramping up pressure on Thune by vowing to object to motions to adjourn the Senate for August, which could force Republicans to take tough votes to go on recess.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), a leading proponent of the SAVE America Act, spearheaded the pressure campaign on Thune through social media.

“@LeaderJohnThune, I hereby object to any effort to put the Senate into recess in August — at least until such time as the Senate has passed the SAVE America Act,” he wrote online.

He warned Thune to “not assume you have my consent” to send senators home for the five-week recess without calling a vote on the matter.

Republican Sens. Rick Scott (Fla.), Ashley Moody (Fla.) and Jim Banks (Ind.) also called on GOP leaders to keep the Senate in session through Labor Day if necessary to hold additional debate and votes on the SAVE America Act.

This has sparked an intense fight in the Senate GOP conference.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) warned that Trump allies who are vowing to stay in session until the SAVE America Act is passed will wind up disappointing Republican voters when they fail to deliver a win.

Cornyn said Lee and others pushing to cancel the recess are putting vulnerable GOP senators in a bad position and “demoralizing our base of voters we’re depending on in 99 days to elect Republicans.”