DORAL, Fla. - President Trump on Monday pushed for the passage of a GOP voting requirements bill, telling House Republicans that enacting the legislation will "guarantee the midterms" and reiterating that he won't sign any other bills until it gets passed.
"It will guarantee the midterms. If you don't get it, big trouble," Trump said at the House GOP's annual issues conference in Florida.
"The people are demanding it. Every time I go out, save America! Save America! We want the SAVE America Act! That's all they talk about. They don't talk about housing. They don't talk about anything. That's what they talk about. And if you send it up there, you will win the midterms and you will win every election for a long time," Trump added.
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act would require proof of citizenship to register to vote in elections and the presentation of an ID to cast a ballot.
It cleared the House in February on a 218-213 vote but has stalled in the Senate, where Democrats argue it would create new barriers to voting. The measure would need support from at least some Senate Democrats to overcome a filibuster.
Trump also urged House Republicans to draft a new version of the bill that would include additional provisions, such as "no mail-in-ballots except for illness, disability, military or travel" and the prohibition of transgender athletes playing in women's sports.
"If you could, if I could ask the people in this room, to go for the gold. We are going for the gold," Trump said. "We're not going for the bronze. We're not going to sign a watered-down version like it's been sent up there. Let's go for the gold, and let's just not accept anything else. I will tell you what, I'm willing to just sort of say I'm not going to sign anything until this is approved."
Trump had called for the bill's passage in a Truth Social post over the weekend, saying that he "will not sign other Bills until this is passed."
In response, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) wrote on the social platform X that, "The SAVE Act is Jim Crow 2.0. It would disenfranchise tens of millions of people. 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. Senate Democrats will not help pass the SAVE Act under any circumstances."
Trump and many conservative lawmakers have pushed Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to sidestep Democratic opposition by returning to a "talking filibuster," which would force Democrats to speak continuously on the Senate floor to delay the bill. Once they cede the floor, Republicans could pass the measure with 51 votes.
"I think the Senate has to approve it," Trump said on Monday. "I really do. And they're gonna have to go the filibuster, and maybe it's gonna be the talking filibuster...but they have to get it done."
However, Thune has previously said it would be very hard to advance government funding legislation or a bipartisan bill to make housing more affordable if Republicans have to spend time trying to break a Democratic blockade of the SAVE America Act.
He told reporters on Monday that a talking filibuster is "much more complicated and risky than people are assuming at the moment."