Senate Begins Debate on Save America Act

Welcome back. Senators have started debate on a measure to enforce voter citizenship and ID requirements, a top priority of President Trump. Just one Republican, Senator Lisa Murkowski, joined all Democrats in voting against opening debate. Only a simple majority vote was needed though. So, ongoing debate. It's unpredictable and it could last for weeks or more. We have NTD's Melina Wisecup with the updates. Now, Melina, good morning. Debate has started. Where does it stand now? Right, Steph. Like you said, senators will now be on the floor for an unpredictable amount of time for debate. Republicans at the outset of this debate packed the amendment tree, meaning that at first they will control amendments that come to the floor, at least at the beginning. But when the opportunity opens up, Democrats say they're ready to jump in to offer up amendments of their own, which could possibly put Republicans in a tough position on issues that are politically sensitive, especially with the midterms coming up. Listen to a little of what senators had to say at the outset of the debate. States' rights are about running elections. So a demagogue or somebody in the level of government cannot force the federal government to say who's eligible to vote and who's not eligible to vote. The notion that we would turn this over to DHS is preposterous. If we make it easy to cheat, then your constitutionally protected right to vote will mean less and less with each passing election. And our failure to take these risks seriously further undermines the public perception of the legitimacy of the rights in question. Now, Steph, one key amendment that was offered at the outset by Senator Eric Schmidt addresses President Trump's demands to ban mail-in voting, with exceptions for military illness, travel, and disability. Schmidt's amendment would also ban transgender surgery for children and keep women's sports only for women. Here's what the president had to say shortly after the Senate kicked off the debate. They're going to be adding a couple of more. One is no men in women's sports. That seems like an easy one. I believe that's 99 percent. And no transgender mutilization of our children. None. That's only polling at 98 percent, Speaker. So hopefully the Senate is going to be able to get that. It's so good for our nation. I mean, who would not have voter ID? Who would not have proof of citizenship? Now, many Republicans, Steph, including the president, is pushing to keep this debate open for as long as possible. And Senate Majority Leader John Zunes said that it would be under consideration for quite a while. As far as final passage goes, though, there's still a big mountain to climb for Republicans, because the reality is under this procedure, they still need 60 votes to be able to end the debate in order to allow Republicans to use that simple majority to pass this without Democrat support. And Senate Leader John Zunes said he's pessimistic that Democrats will change their minds on this here soon. At the end of the day, I just don't know how you defend a position that you need to be a citizen in this country not only to register to vote, but also to be able to show an ID when you vote. And we'll see how long the Democrats want to defend that position. And maybe none of them will be won over at the end. That's entirely possible. But I think having the fight, having the debate on the floor of the Senate is important. Now, Steph, this idea of having more active and prolonged debates has been pushed by a few lawmakers repeatedly, actually, over the years. The reality is that oftentimes when we're working in the slim majority situation that we have right now, people know ahead of time whether or not something is going to pass. So that makes the debate less impactful. But even when lawmakers do debate on the floor, the floor is usually empty, except for maybe the one or two people that are talking or who are planning to talk. Senator Mike Lee and others are actually pushing soon to enact now a so-called talking filibuster. Taking this approach would actually give Republicans the chance to pass the Save America Act without Democrat support if they're able to outlast Democrats on the debate floor. Listen to what Ted Cruz said about it. Let's use the Senate rules and force them to talk and make them talk all night and make them talk and talk and talk till they can't stand anymore. If we don't fight, people are going to understandably be frustrated with us. So let's stand up and do the right thing. Now, Senator Mike Lee, the leading force on the Save America Act in the Senate, along with President Trump, have both said that any senator who stands in the way of Save America should be replaced, which is quite an impactful comment coming at the cusp of the midterms here. All right. Thanks so much for the update this morning. NTD congressional correspondent Melina Wisecup.