Republican Louisiana Rep. Julia Letlow is calling on Senate Republicans to invoke the talking filibuster to get the SAVE America Act to President Donald Trump’s desk.
Letlow is locked in a hotly contested Senate primary against incumbent Republican Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, who cosponsors the SAVE Act but has stopped short of saying the tactic — advocated for by some Senate Republicans — should be used to pass the bill. Letlow’s call to pass the election integrity bill comes just hours after Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he plans to bring the legislation to the floor next week for a vote.
“I firmly believe, as do most Americans, that only Americans should be voting in our elections. It’s common sense and that’s why I and so many others strongly support the Save America Act, including President Trump,” Letlow, who has Trump’s endorsement in her Senate race, said in an interview with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The voting bill contains widely popular policies, such as voter ID and proof of citizenship upon registration, which would strengthen preexisting laws banning noncitizens from voting. Due to Democrats’ staunch opposition, the bill would fail to reach the 60-vote threshold in the upper chamber, causing some Republicans to turn to their talking filibuster push which would require Democrats to deliver speeches to stall votes.
Thune told reporters Monday the talking filibuster is “much more complicated and risky than people are assuming at the moment.” The filibuster is a tool of the minority, allowing Democrats multiple procedural tactics to add their legislative priorities to the bill over the course of weeks, if not months.
