Dems Block Trans Sports Ban in SAVE Act Fight
“I would do whatever it took to get this passed… This is probably one of the most important bills that’s come through here in a long, long time.”
The amendment, offered by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., would have added language to the SAVE America Act prohibiting biological males from competing in women’s sports, linking it directly to legislation requiring proof of citizenship to vote. It failed on a party-line vote, with Democrats staying unified against both the provision and the broader bill.
Tuberville made clear he was willing to push aggressively to get the provision across the finish line.
“I would do whatever it took to get this passed… This is probably one of the most important bills that’s come through here in a long, long time.”
There was little mystery about how this would play out. Democrats have been locked in against the SAVE Act from the start, and attaching a high-profile culture issue like this only made it easier to hold that line. Still, Republicans pressed forward, using the amendment process to force a recorded vote on an issue that continues to resonate well beyond Capitol Hill.
The strategy here is straightforward. If the votes aren’t there for standalone legislation, attach it to something bigger and make the opposition publicly say no. That is exactly what happened. Democrats did not just block a procedural add-on. They voted down a policy that Republicans argue is about fairness in women’s sports, and they did it unanimously.
At the same time, the vote also exposed the limits of the GOP’s current position. Even with an aggressive floor strategy and multiple amendments queued up, Republicans are still short of the numbers needed to pass anything controversial. Even Tuberville acknowledged the limits.
“But I don’t know whether we’ve got enough support, even on the Republican side, much less Democrats.”
That tension is not going away. Republicans are putting the issue front and center, forcing votes that draw a clear line.
Saturday’s result made one thing obvious. There is no middle ground here. Democrats shut it down without hesitation, and Republicans do not have the votes to change that. For now, the fight is less about passing anything and more about making sure everyone is on record.
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Trump was right. They’re crazy. Democrats have embraced a totalitarian assault on reality, science, biology and women. They are Big Brother.
Did you just assume their gender?!
Misogynistic trannies, Jew-hating and Christian-hating Islamofascists/Muslims supremacists and illegal aliens — the vile, stupid and evil Dhimmi-crats’ cherished and prized constituencies.
All the violent groups, coincidentally…
This pisses me off.
Not that Democrats voted it down, but that these idiots keep trying to shove this crap into bills that have nothing to do with it.
Its supposed to be an ELECTION INTEGRITY BILL, and it NEEDS to be passed to stop Democrat cheating.
Worry about troons on your own time in your own bill, FFS.
This. 1000% this.
There’s already been plenty of discussion and wrangling for votes to advance the SAVE as is (without this amendment) and we didn’t get it passed then either.
If you want to upset then,.IMO, it is better directed at Majority Leader Thune who refuses to require a.speaking filibuster for this bill and enforce as much party discipline as possible and make it very clear to the constituents and donors of reluctant GoP Senators who the problem children are.
If the d/prog don’t want to vote them make them talk. Have the presiding officer call for a Quorum every hour. Keep these Senators on the floor. Have the Senate Sergeant at arms lock the damn doors.Keep them there tired, hungry, thirsty, sleep deprived, without their RX meds and no restroom access till they give up the filibuster or keel over. Make it a miserable experience, inflicting as much human suffering, pain and exhaustion as theoretically possible.
He doesn’t refuse. He’s already explained that the votes to sustain this just aren’t there. He doesn’t have 50 Republicans who are willing to camp out in the senate 24/7 for a month or longer.
“Party discipline” doesn’t exist in the senate. If a senator is determined on a course of action no one can force them off it.
You just contradicted yourself. A quorum call is exactly what the Democrats would want, because it gives the speaker a chance to rest. Which means they would have two people on the floor, one to speak and one to watch and make motions, and the GOP would have to have 49 there to maintain a quorum. As soon as they’re down to 48, the Dem who’s not speaking calls for a quorum, so his friend can take a rest, and then resume when the quorum comes back.
That is not possible. They’re not prisoners, they have a right to leave. They can only be brought back if they’re needed for a quorum, so as soon as there is one they can’t be brought back. All they have to do is be somewhere outside the Capitol, so that by the time the Sergeant at Arms’s men find them the quorum call is already over.
It’s the Republicans who would be virtual prisoners, though if all 53 of them were in on it they could have up to four of them on break at any one time.
And they’d have to be vigilant lest the Dems ever have a majority on the floor. If there are only 20 Rs on the floor, the Dems can suddenly bring 21, make up a majority, and vote to adjourn (which is the only vote that doesn’t need a quorum). That would reset the 2-speeches-per-senator limit.
So when it comes to “eternal vigilance being the price of liberty,” it’s always OUR (citizens’) skin on the line, WE who have to sacrifice — not the bastards we PAY TO DO EXACTLY THIS.
1. Then force the reluctant Senators to reveal that on the floor and face their constituents, their donors and whatever consequences follow from the refusal.
2. It does exist ‘to the extent possible’ and we’ve not yet scratched the surface of things that are possible. All sorts of negative consequences for refusing can occur. Including opening up the floor to average Citizens who ‘just happened to be there’ but all of whom are quite upset.
3. Not at all. Alternative paths to victory are equally valid. A Quorum call is want WE (center/right populists) want. Force the Senators to show up, stay not just in DC but on the floor, sleep deprived and to paraphrase Ivan Drago in Rocky IV ‘if they die, they die’. My ‘side’ consists of those Senators who are willing to do what it takes to force the vote and pass the SAVE act…the rest of them jump off a bridge or get pushed off a bridge for that matter….I don’t care either way.
4. Nope the Presiding officer can absolutely direct the Sergeant at Arms of the Senate to go drag their ass back. Given the ‘uncertain security situation’ with lack of DHS funding and Iranian Regime threats out of an ‘abundance of caution’ they gotta stay…for their own good. They could always yield the floor from their filibuster to move for a vote on the current lockdown but that triggers another quorum call…bringing them back onto the floor. After the vote the Presiding officer simply imposes another lockdown which they can fight with a vote but they gotta be present to do it …on and on.
Bottom line is the Presiding officer can do pretty much whatever they want in making rulings from the chair and the only way to overturn the ruling is with ….A quorum call and a vote. Hell impose the first lockdown with a number ‘Lockdown Ruling from the Chair #1’ so they get the message that’s #1 of many to follow.
If reluctant Senators want to play games then start providing games for them but not the sort of games they are used to nor games they want and definitely not games they will either control or enjoy while the game goes on.
You beat me to making the same comment.
You are correct – though the trans issue is a HUGE deal – pass the SAVE act first. Then Rs should have enough members to handle the other human issues. Heck, they may have room for a few RINOS to set up themselves to lose in 2028.
One immutable rule in politics: when push comes to shove, the GOP folds.
This has been amusing but could we now please repeal the 17th amendment? I don’t know who or what republican senators represent but it isn’t their state or their voters.
That’s stupid nonsense. They represent the people of their states, exactly as they’re supposed to. How do you imagine repealing the 17th would change that? If you’re unhappy with your senator, how would it help to give up your right to vote for him, and have him elected by a handful of state assemblymen instead? How would that make him represent you better?
Well, I have not much interest in engaging in a discussion with someone who begins their argument in such a childishly insulting way. I will note briefly that having senators selected by their state legislatures would absolutely make those senators more responsive to the policy priorities of those states, rather than whatever special monied or other interests they pander to now. And further that the senate as an institution was never conceived as a popularly elected body in our constitutional system. That was the design for the House, which was legislatively stronger. It would also, incidentally, result in a republican majority body. Now go away.
Sirry, Milhouse. That was supposed to be a downtick because of your childish wording and your misunderstanding of what Senators were for originally.
For the record I generally support you. but you struck out on this one, at least in my view.
You have to spread these around.
You cannot tie everything you really want into a single bill.
It will go down in flames.
It’s already going down anyway. So all it is is an opportunity to force the Dems to be seen to vote against things the vast majority of voters approve.
Can someone explain the first three paragraphs to me? Tuberville takes a bill that is poisonous to the Democrats, and adds a new “poison pill” that the Democrats hate just about as much, in an attempt to… what, exactly? Stupefy the Democrats with enough added poison so that they vote for the bill in an addled haze?
“I would do whatever it took to get this passed… This is probably one of the most important bills that’s come through here in a long, long time.”
Without it being clear whether “this” is the main bill or his amendment (let’s just let that ride), this is NOT how you get an important concession passed against opposition. You do that by putting the amendment on a bill to fly pallets of money to Somali Learing centers, or to commission the erection of a statue to Christine Jorgensen at Stone Bridge High School in Loudoun County.
It was a show vote aimed to satisfy multiple objectives:
1. Force a.recorded vote on the amendment to ban tranny
2. Trump wanted it moved in the Senate or.at least his social media declared that and Tubbs is one of Trump’s chief water carriers
3. Tubbs is running for Gov of Alabama and wanted another high profile vote/issue to bring home to voters like a cat bringing their owner a dead bird that he can now use to hammer whomever the d/prog nominee is. Fundraising for his campaign is probably a consideration as well.
The right really needs to seize control of the narrative… that narrative being that democrats are misogynists who believe women are nothing more than a social construct and are too stupid to obtain records like birth and marriage certificates.
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