Senate's SAVE snub
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Sen. Ron Johnson during a Capitol Hill hearing on March 14, 2025. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Senate Majority Leader John Thune is trying to pack the Senate's final week before the August recess with votes. One item missing from his agenda: President Trump's top legislative priority, the SAVE Act.
Why it matters: Schedules reveal priorities. Thune and Trump's are misaligned.
- "I don't think my leadership wants to do it," Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said of a third reconciliation package, which would include parts of the SAVE Act. "I think they're making a huge mistake."
Thune, for the most part, is deferring to new Senate Budget Committee Chair Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who will meet with committee Republicans on Tuesday morning.
- Johnson is also keeping his options open, telling Axios it's "possible" a vote on a budget resolution could happen this week.
- Some of his committee members are prepared to go further.
- "I will do everything possible to have a vote on the budget resolution," Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) told Axios. "I think we need to stay here until we vote on it and figure out a way to get it across the finish line."
Driving the news: Thune told reporters Monday that his immediate focus is avoiding a shutdown.
- First up: A short-term funding bill through Dec. 11
- Then: A package of 74 nominees, a bipartisan Russia sanctions package and the crypto market structure CLARITY Act.
- "And then we'll see from there," he said.
What to watch: The question is whether pressure builds to add a vote on a budget resolution, which would kick off another reconciliation process and include elements of SAVE.
- The resolution would also include farm aid and defense funds for the Iran conflict. The White House has been pushing the Senate to get it done.
- Leaders will have to weigh whether demands from the White House and the base are enough to force a vote, even if it fails.
Zoom out: In March, Trump called for the SAVE America Act to "go to the front of the line."
- Last week, he demanded that Thune cancel the August recess unless the SAVE America Act passed, openly wondering whether Thune was the right majority leader if he couldn't deliver the bill.
- "Remember, stupidity always brings LOSING & DEATH!" Trump said on Truth Social.
Zoom in: Thune says his August agenda is dictated by Senate reality, not White House urgency, deferring to Johnson on the likelihood of a budget resolution moving this week.
- And he is strongly hinting at keeping senators in D.C. to vote into the weekend — or even next week — if Democrats and Republicans don't come together on agreements to expedite their priorities.
- If they run out of time, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's nomination to officially take the position could slide until September — as could other priorities like a bipartisan college sports package.
The bottom line: Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) has been threatening to put GOP senators on the record about whether they want to leave town without moving on a third budget reconciliation bill.
- But Thune is keeping his options open. Asked if he'll face such a vote, he demurred.
- "That's a good question. We'll find out," he said.
