Senate Goes To The Dogs While SAVE America Act Stalls

American voters have overwhelmingly spoken: They want integrity in their elections — even if integrity infrequently comes in their politicians. 

The do-nothing U.S. Senate has heard their pleas and is giving them … dog parades. 

That’s right. As The Federalist’s Brianna Lyman reported Thursday, North Carolina’s retiring senator, Thom Tillis, earlier this month put forward a resolution seeking to use the atrium in the Philip A. Hart Senate office building for a “Bipawtisan Doggi Gras Pawrade.” The resolution passed by unanimous consent. The pooches were paraded on Wednesday. 

How obtuse is that? As the republic hangs in the balance, all the upper house seems to be able to accomplish is dressing up dogs in funny costumes. But who doesn’t love a costumed canine? 

You know what else people love? Having faith in their elections. That’s why voters overwhelmingly support the core provisions in the SAVE America Act, a bill that requires documentary proof to register to vote in federal elections and voter identification at the polls. 

But that’s too hard for a slow-moving body that’s grown quite fond of hitting the “easy” button. The Republican majority could try, but why bother, leadership moans. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. claims there’s no consensus in his conference to fight for the election-integrity reform package. 

Clearly, the 45 Democrats (and two Independents who vote like Democrats) in the minority despise the bill because it would go a long way in preventing noncitizens from registering and voting in U.S. elections. But there are more than a few Republican senators who like to talk a big game about the critical importance of voter verification but who don’t want to put in the sweat equity to bring the SAVE America Act to the president’s desk. 

Make Bernie and Dick Work for It

Republicans have the tool to do it. The “talking filibuster” — the means to get around the Senate’s 60-vote rule to move legislation to a vote without “nuking the filibuster.”

Republicans could force Democrats to literally stand up for their “beliefs.” Unlike the oft-used “silent filibuster” that requires little of the opposition, the talking filibuster would require Democrats to debate the SAVE America Act non-stop without taking a break. Not for dinner. Not for a smoke. Not to use the bathroom. The talking Fils can drink water — and milk, apparently. 

The Dems would each get two speeches. They can tell America all about how the bill is “Jim Crow 2.0” and voter suppression and all that other crap, but they’ll tire out or make a deal to end debate. This Senate is Boomerville, with the median age at nearly Medicare-eligible, according to Pew Research. Let Bernie Sanders and Dick Durbin try to do a Mr. Smith without a potty break. 

Eventually, Democrats will relent. Their time will be up. And the 60-vote threshold disappears. 

“Once Democrats exhausted all their allowed speeches and motions or yielded the floor, the bill would go straight to a vote, and only a simple majority of 51 senators would be needed to pass the bill,” Heritage Action explains in its Guide to the Talking Filibuster published this week.  

It does require a little work from Tillis and his dog and pony show team. They would have to hang around Washington, D.C. for more than their usual few days a week. They wouldn’t have to stay on the floor, but close enough so Thune could call as many senators as needed to meet quorum. Debate would then resume, the guide notes. 

But actually doing their jobs seems a bridge too far for some work-averse Senators. Hence, Thune’s problem achieving consensus.

‘Grow Up’

Tillis, who has come to terms with his RINO-ness, may not be bright enough to know the optics on his annual doggy parade are horrible amid another stupid government shutdown and a minority party that doesn’t believe that “the first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.” Or maybe he’s just that spiteful, making sure Trump doesn’t get another victory on his way out the Senate door. 

Tillis — and the Senate in general — heard an earful from critics. 

Tillis tried to laugh off the criticism, but his “tone hardened,” according to The Washington Post. 

“I don’t find their comments particularly well-informed,” Tillis said. “Grow up. I mean, my god, you can walk and chew gum here.”

They’ve shown the walking (or parading) part, but if the gum is passing the SAVE America Act, then the Republican-controlled Senate right now seems incapable of chewing. 

So, when the balloting begins weeks before November’s midterm elections and the SAVE America Act is just another dead letter stuck in a do-nothing upper house, just remember that this Republican-controlled Senate has gone to the dogs. 

Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.