President Donald Trump’s pledge to stop signing bills until the Senate passes a hard-line voter-ID measure is already causing heartburn for Republicans, with GOP senators warning that a standoff could freeze the president’s own agenda.
Democrats, however, have a different response to Trump’s threat to hold up all legislation: Don’t threaten us with a good time!
“If the president is refusing to pass his own agenda, given his agenda, that’s probably a good thing,” Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., told reporters Monday.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., quickly embraced Trump’s threat, after the president posted Sunday morning that he wouldn’t sign any bills until a beefed-up version of the SAVE America Act — “NOT THE WATERED DOWN VERSION,” Trump wrote — becomes law.
“If Trump is saying he won’t sign any bills until the SAVE Act is passed, then so be it: there will be total gridlock in the Senate,” Schumer posted on X Sunday morning.
“Senate Democrats will not help pass the SAVE Act under any circumstances,” Schumer wrote, calling the bill “Jim Crow 2.0” and saying it would disenfranchise tens of millions of people.
Trump has repeatedly said he will refuse to sign any more bills into law until lawmakers send him the SAVE America Act, a measure that would — among other things — require proof of citizenship to register to vote and end most forms of mail-in voting.
It’s just the latest pressure tactic to pass the bill, as Republican senators confront the reality that they either need a handful of Democrats to support the measure to clear the Senate’s 60-vote threshold — or they need to change the rules of the Senate to effectively kill the filibuster.
But Republicans haven’t even secured unanimous support from the 53 GOP senators — Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said last month she opposes the measure — let alone a simple majority to change how the Senate operates.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has said there’s not enough support to force a “talking filibuster,” which would require opponents to stand on the floor and keep talking when members inevitably fail to reach the 60-vote threshold to end debate. Such a move would halt progress on other votes — like nominations, a housing bill and a measure to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which has been shut down for more than three weeks.
Trump’s pledge to stop signing bills offers another chance to stop the president’s legislative agenda — and Democrats are cheerfully welcoming his stand.
“I guess he’s not going to be signing many more bills,” Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, told MS NOW on Monday.
Trump’s threat went beyond the standard Republican-backed voter-ID requirement.
“I, as President, will not sign other Bills until this is passed,” he wrote on Truth Social on Sunday. “AND NOT THE WATERED DOWN VERSION – GO FOR THE GOLD: MUST SHOW VOTER I.D. & PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP: NO MAIL-IN BALLOTS EXCEPT FOR MILITARY – ILLNESS, DISABILITY, TRAVEL: NO MEN IN WOMEN’S SPORTS: NO TRANSGENDER MUTILIZATION FOR CHILDREN! DO NOT FAIL!!!”
Republicans hope there are exceptions to Trump’s new rule. Thune told reporters he believes Trump has “modified it with respect to DHS,” suggesting the president would sign legislation to end the department’s shutdown.
On Monday, The Washington Examiner quoted an unnamed White House official who said Trump would sign a DHS funding bill into law. But Trump himself hasn’t backed down at all.
“I’m not gonna sign anything until this is approved,” Trump told reporters Monday evening in Florida. “I really am.”
Even if Trump has no plans to follow through on his pledge, his rhetoric could complicate the GOP’s argument that Democrats are to blame for the DHS shutdown.
Thune, citing the DHS funding bill and a bipartisan housing bill, said he hopes Trump won’t actually block any legislation.
“I know he’s passionate about the SAVE America Act, and I think that his statement was an expression of that,” Thune told reporters on Monday. “But I hope, at the end of the day, that if we can move things across the floor here and actually put legislation on his desk, that he’ll find his way to sign.”
Other Republican lawmakers were divided on the all-or-nothing tactics.
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said he agrees with Trump, banking on an exception for DHS.
“Most important thing to do — other than the Homeland Security funding,” Scott told reporters Monday.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said he still thinks the idea of a talking filibuster is a bad one, saying it could “be several weeks long,” including an unlimited number of amendments.
Other Democrats were bemused by Trump’s threat, saying he probably doesn’t mean it.
“It’s just a temper tantrum,” Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., told MS NOW on Monday. “You know, I’ve seen him kind of do this kind of stuff before. I don’t know what he’s actually trying to do in terms of pressure. They just don’t have the votes for the SAVE America Act.”
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said Trump’s threat is part of a broader plan to eliminate vote-by-mail, which is the standard in Wyden’s home state.
“It shows how passionate his commitment to unraveling the rights of law-abiding Americans is,” Wyden told MS NOW on Monday.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said the threat “hardly leads to successful negotiations” on DHS funding.
“Part of his job is to sign bills that have been passed by the Congress,” Blumenthal told reporters Monday. “He can’t hold hostage legislation that creates more housing or provides for law enforcement when the health and safety of Americans is at stake, just on the personal whim that he wants something else done.”
Kevin Frey contributed to this report.
Jack Fitzpatrick covers Congress for MS NOW. He previously reported for Bloomberg Government, Morning Consult and National Journal. He has bachelor's and master's degrees from Arizona State University.