Republicans add to pressure on Senate majority leader after Trump voter ID bill call – US politics live | Trump administration

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Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune came under renewed pressure last night to change the rules to force a vote on the Save America Act, a sprawling bill that would upend America’s midterm elections.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump sent a direct message to the press to Thune outside the White House:

He must be a leader.

The comments came after the president said he would not sign any further legislation until the Save America Act reaches his desk to sign. And Trump has the support of many in his party as he tries to bulldoze through the changes.

Texas Senator John Cornyn publicly supported changing the rules on the filibuster to make it easier for the bill to pass. He suggested reinstating a “talking filibuster,” where senators must keep the floor to block legislation.

Meanwhile, Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson called for a test vote on the filibuster, arguing it would force Democrats to declare it “on the record.” He added that Republicans should consider dropping the rule if Democrats don’t help pass the bill.

He said:

I have colleagues who simply don’t believe the Democrats will do it, simply because two of them stood their ground last time – these. [two] who were purged from their party

So let’s put them on the record. Let’s go–[make the] vote against it first, “let’s end the filibuster” – and let’s just see what they do.

Thune, of South Dakota, said he plans to put the bill up for a vote next week, but that would mean he would fail — he doesn’t have 60 votes to overcome the filibuster rule and vote on the bill outright, and the filibuster is not a feasible option.

Although the House approved a version of the bill, the Senate does not have the votes because it would need 60 votes to advance due to the filibuster rule.

Among the provisions of the Save America Act: the requirement to provide documented proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote (such as a passport or birth certificate); a voter identification requirement to vote; a ban on states registering people to vote unless they provide those documents at the time of registration; requirements for states to ensure that only U.S. citizens are registered; a requirement that states turn over their voter rolls to the federal government; and authorization for private parties to sue election officials if someone registers to vote without presenting documentary proof of citizenship, as well as possible criminal penalties.

In other developments:

• Donald Trump insisted to reporters that the war against Iran he launched from his Florida beach club is going so well that “most people” on the cable news channels he turns to for information “say it’s already won.”

• At a political rally in Kentucky, the president urged voters to get rid of Thomas Massiéthe Republican congressman who co-authored the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which required the Justice Department to release investigative files of Jeffrey Epstein, the late child sex offender with whom Trump socialized for nearly two decades.

• The United States bombed an Iranian elementary school for girls, killing at least 175 people, including many girls aged 7 to 12, according to the New York Times.

• Joe Roganthe podcaster who hosted and supported Donald Trump in 2024, said the US military attacks on Venezuela and Iran ordered by Trump were a betrayal of voters won over by his claim to be against regime change wars.

• As a video circulating online showed tankers filled with Iraqi oil burning in the Persian Gulf after reported attacks by Iran, Trump assured his supporters in Hebron, Kentucky, that the war against Iran was already over and that “we won.”