Senate Republican leaders are used to headaches from Utah Sen. Mike Lee, but the battle is reaching an apex as Lee attempts to derail the August recess and force another vote on President Donald Trump’s priority voting bill.
Lee said that he planned to object to the upper chamber’s planned five-week August recess “until such a time as the Senate has passed the SAVE America Act.” On Monday, Trump joined Lee’s call and demanded that the Senate cancel recess to push through the bill. Those loud, and very online, efforts are part of a deepening rift between Trump and members of Senate leadership, who have little interest in keeping the conference in town to take a perilous vote only months before the midterm elections.
Top Senate Republicans not only believe those votes would be a waste of time, but they would be politically problematic. Staying in session would preclude incumbent senators from campaigning back home, though senators who vote to give themselves a long summer break might have a difficult time explaining themselves to constituents.
“If I thought there was a path to getting a result, I’m all for it,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune. “But if we are going to be sitting here and in endless quorum calls, I don’t know if that’s in anybody’s best interest.”
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Thune also noted that versions of the SAVE America Act have failed on five occasions to win simple majority support. Not only does it not have the requisite Democratic support to overcome a filibuster, there are not enough votes to weaken the 60-vote threshold in favor of a “talking” filibuster that Lee and Trump have repeatedly hailed.
“It’s an act of futility,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said of Trump’s call to cancel recess.
When asked how canceling recess to work on the voting bill would go over with members, one senior Senate GOP aide was blunt.
“A total nonstarter,” the aide said, adding that the “math doesn’t math.”
The Senate’s much-cherished August break is set to run from Aug. 7 until Sept. 13. House lawmakers fled Washington last week and are set to return the week before Labor Day.
As for Thune allies, much of the frustration since the start of the year has centered on Lee, who has led the messaging effort almost entirely through his rapid-fire X account.
A Lee-forced tally would force Republicans to take a difficult vote and, effectively, open them up to an uptick in criticism from conservative activists with massive followings and, potentially, the president.
“Of course,” Cornyn said when asked if Lee is putting members in a bad spot. “He’s demoralizing our base of voters we’re depending on in 99 days to elect Republicans. What possible rationale could there be for that other than self-aggrandizement.”
A pair of sources noted that outside of his social media postings, Lee has done little to try to sway skeptical colleagues — and is largely quiet during weekly Senate GOP lunches.
“The worst threat to a GOP majority: Mike Lee’s continued SAVE Act antics,” a second senior Senate GOP aide told NOTUS.
The second aide also noted that colleagues have frequently observed him scrolling through X on his phone and view his SAVE Act actions “as a ploy to become a social media star” rather than a serious legislative effort.
“I think it’s snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. I think what we need to do is get out of here,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina). “Staying here longer and just assuming that because we’re here, we’re going to bridge some profound differences between people, is a catastrophic political miscalculation and shows that we’re tone deaf to the fact that we have a real threat ahead of us with respect to losing the majority.”
“I want the Senate members home doing that, not doing the performative politics up here that people like Mike Lee want to do,” Tillis added.
Lee is not without allies: Sens. Rick Scott (R-Florida) and Ashley Moody (R-Florida) have joined his cause.
“While the Spartans said ‘come back with your shield, or on it,’ my demand is a lot easier: only return home if we carry the SAVE America Act as a prize for the whole country,” Lee said, defending his position, in a statement to NOTUS.
The timing of Lee’s pressure campaign could not be worse in the eyes of some in the conference, as Election Day is coming increasingly in view for members.
Democrats need to pick off four seats in November in order to take back the majority, and the road for them requires toppling a number of incumbent Republicans — with Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Jon Husted (R-Ohio) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) at the top of the list.
“People want to campaign,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia), a member of Republican leadership. “I just came from inspecting floods and damage in my state. Staying connected is really important.”
Threats and calls to cancel the August break have become something of a tradition over the years.
Then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell canceled the first week of the break in 2017 for Republicans to work on health care after the late Sen. John McCain blocked the party’s “skinny repeal” effort.
Only a year later, the Kentucky Republican canceled more than two weeks of the break. The move kept a number of Senate Democrats at the Capitol and away from campaigning in their home states.
Republicans are expected to discuss how to handle recess in the coming days, including during conference-wide luncheons.
“It’ll be a week,” Capito said.
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