Republicans pile pressure on Thune to alter rules for Trump’s voter ID bill
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.
Republican Senate majority leader John Thune came under renewed pressure last night to change the rules to force a vote on the Save America act, a sprawling bill that would upend elections for American voters amid the midterms.
President Donald Trump delivered a blunt message for Thune to reporters outside the White House on Wednesday:
He’s got to be a leader.
The comments came after the president said he would not sign any other legislation until the Save America act came to his desk to sign. And Trump has the support of several in his party as he attempts to bulldozer through the changes.
Texas senator John Cornyn publicly backed changing the filibuster rules in order to help pass the bill. He suggested bringing back a “talking filibuster”, where senators must hold the floor to block legislation.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin senator Ron Johnson called for a test vote on the filibuster, arguing it would force Democrats to go “on the record”. He added that Republicans should consider scrapping the rule if Democrats will not help pass the bill.
He said:
I’ve got colleagues who just simply won’t believe the Democrats will actually do it, just because two of them held out last time – those [two] who’ve been purged from their party
So let’s get them on the record. Let’s —-[make the] first vote out, ‘let’s end the filibuster’ – and just see what they do.
Thune, from South Dakota, said he planned to bring the bill up for a vote next week, but that would mean it would fail – he does not have 60 votes to overcome the filibuster rule and vote on the bill outright, and the talking filibuster isn’t a feasible option.
While the House approved a version of the bill, the Senate does not have the votes, because it would need 60 votes to move forward because of the filibuster rule.
Among the provisions of the Save America act: a requirement to provide documented proof of US citizenship to register to vote (such as a passport or birth certificate); a voter ID requirement for casting a ballot; a prohibition on states registering people to vote unless they provide such documentation at the time of registration; requirements for states to ensure only US citizens are registered; a demand that states turn their voter rolls over to the federal government; and an allowance for private parties to sue election officials if anyone registers to vote without presenting documentary proof of citizenship, as well as potential criminal penalties.
In other developments:
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Donald Trump insisted to reproters that the war on Iran he launched from his Florida beach club is going so well that “most people” on the cable news channels he turns to for information, “say it’s already been won”.
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In a political rally in Kentucky, the president urged voters to get rid of Thomas Massie, the Republican congressman who co-wrote the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which compelled the justice department to release investigative files of Jeffrey Epstein, the late child sex offender Trump socialized with for nearly two decades.
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The United States bombed an Iranian girls’ elementary school, killing at least 175 people, many of them girls between the ages of 7 and 12, according to the New York Times.
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Joe Rogan, the podcaster who hosted and endorsed Donald Trump in 2024, said that the US military attacks on Venezuela and Iran ordered by Trump were a betrayal of voters won over by his claim to be against regime change wars.
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As video circulating online showed oil tankers filled with Iraqi oil in flames in the Persian Gulf after reported attacks by Iran, Trump assured his supporters in Hebron, Kentucky, that the war on Iran is already over and “we won”.
Key events
Dharna Noor
Donald Trump’s war on Iran has triggered shocks in fossil fuel markets, exposing the perils of an agenda that prioritizes “drill, baby, drill” while sabotaging renewable power and energy efficiency in the US, experts and advocates say.
The US-Israeli war on Iran has already led to hundreds of deaths, created an ecological crisis linked to strikes on oil depots and sent fossil fuel prices haywire across the globe.
Critics say the war also shows the inherent instability of dependence on oil and gas: unlike wind and solar power, fossil fuel-based energy requires constant inputs of products whose availability and costs are determined by the global market.
Since the strikes on Iran began late last month, oil prices soared past $100 a barrel to their highest price since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. They eventually dropped to $98 a barrel on Thursday. The spike has pushed up the cost of gasoline – in which crude oil is a key component – nationwide. And it has sparked concern about broader inflation, which is often triggered by higher crude prices.
The president this week dismissed concerns about surging prices, telling Reuters that if gas prices “rise, they rise”, and later writing on social media that oil spikes are a “very small price” to pay for US safety and that “ONLY FOOLS WOULD THINK DIFFERENTLY”. But on the campaign trail and in the White House, Trump repeatedly pledged to bring down the price of household electricity and gasoline by “unleashing” American fossil fuels and boosting energy “independence” and “dominance”.
It’s an “emperor has no clothes moment” for Trump’s pro-fossil fuel policies and claims to support the working class, said Collin Rees, US policy manager at the climate research and advocacy non-profit Oil Change International.
“Americans are seeing, in real time, the deep failings of Trump’s strategy,” he said. “We’re seeing that he’s not doing anything to provide energy stability or price stability.”
Read the full report here with graphics by Aliya Uteuova:
A reminder that while several agencies have been impacted by the DHS shutdown, including the Transportation Security Administration (Tsa) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), federal immigration enforcement is able to largely continue, thanks to the billions of dollars conferred for ICE in Donald Trump’s sweeping tax-policy bill that was signed into law last year.
Senate to vote on DHS funding bill as department shutdown continues
Twenty-seven days into the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown, Senate lawmakers will try – for a fourth time – to pass a funding bill to reopen the department.
The impasse over guardrails for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) means that the upper chamber has yet to clear the 60-vote threshold needed to advance.
It’s expected to fail again today, a glaring reminder of the partisan schism over federal immigration funding during Donald Trump’s second administration. A reminder that two US citizens were fatally shot during the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis. And the president ousted Kristi Noem as his homeland security secretary, 13 months into the job.
US cannot escort ships through Strait of Hormuz now, maybe by month’s end, says energy secretary
Graeme Wearden
This won’t reassure the oil market much!
US energy secretary Chris Wright told CNBC on Thursday that the Navy cannot escort ships through the strait of Hormuz now but it was “quite likely” that could happen by the end of the month.
This comes as oil prices jumped almost 10%, to above $100 a barrel, before dropping to $98 a barrel amid renewed fears about supply disruption.
Donald Trump is in Washington today. He’ll be in closed-door policy meetings for most of the afternoon. However, we will hear from the president at 4pm ET, when he speaks in the East Room at a White House event for Women’s History Month with first lady Melania Trump.
We’ll bring you the latest lines as that gets under way.
Democrats press for answers over potential conflict of interest between Bondi and her lawyer brother
Democrat lawmakers have asked the Department of Justice to examine a potential conflict of interest in relation to attorney general Pam Bondi and matters involving her lawyer brother.
California Democrats Adam Schiff Dave Min said they have been waiting since 16 December to hear whether the Justice Department properly implemented firewalls and screening procedures in relation to her brother Brad, Bloomberg reports.
“Given the troubling pattern at the department of repeated interventions or dismissals in cases involving Mr Bondi, we are concerned that DOJ officials, including the attorney general, may have failed to ensure the independence of internal accountability mechanisms,” they said in a letter to Justice Department Deputy Inspector General William Blieron Wednesday.
DOJ spokesperson Gates McGavick said in a statement:
These decisions were made through the proper channels and the attorney general had no role in them.
Republicans pile pressure on Thune to alter rules for Trump’s voter ID bill
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.
Republican Senate majority leader John Thune came under renewed pressure last night to change the rules to force a vote on the Save America act, a sprawling bill that would upend elections for American voters amid the midterms.
President Donald Trump delivered a blunt message for Thune to reporters outside the White House on Wednesday:
He’s got to be a leader.
The comments came after the president said he would not sign any other legislation until the Save America act came to his desk to sign. And Trump has the support of several in his party as he attempts to bulldozer through the changes.
Texas senator John Cornyn publicly backed changing the filibuster rules in order to help pass the bill. He suggested bringing back a “talking filibuster”, where senators must hold the floor to block legislation.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin senator Ron Johnson called for a test vote on the filibuster, arguing it would force Democrats to go “on the record”. He added that Republicans should consider scrapping the rule if Democrats will not help pass the bill.
He said:
I’ve got colleagues who just simply won’t believe the Democrats will actually do it, just because two of them held out last time – those [two] who’ve been purged from their party
So let’s get them on the record. Let’s —-[make the] first vote out, ‘let’s end the filibuster’ – and just see what they do.
Thune, from South Dakota, said he planned to bring the bill up for a vote next week, but that would mean it would fail – he does not have 60 votes to overcome the filibuster rule and vote on the bill outright, and the talking filibuster isn’t a feasible option.
While the House approved a version of the bill, the Senate does not have the votes, because it would need 60 votes to move forward because of the filibuster rule.
Among the provisions of the Save America act: a requirement to provide documented proof of US citizenship to register to vote (such as a passport or birth certificate); a voter ID requirement for casting a ballot; a prohibition on states registering people to vote unless they provide such documentation at the time of registration; requirements for states to ensure only US citizens are registered; a demand that states turn their voter rolls over to the federal government; and an allowance for private parties to sue election officials if anyone registers to vote without presenting documentary proof of citizenship, as well as potential criminal penalties.
In other developments:
-
Donald Trump insisted to reproters that the war on Iran he launched from his Florida beach club is going so well that “most people” on the cable news channels he turns to for information, “say it’s already been won”.
-
In a political rally in Kentucky, the president urged voters to get rid of Thomas Massie, the Republican congressman who co-wrote the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which compelled the justice department to release investigative files of Jeffrey Epstein, the late child sex offender Trump socialized with for nearly two decades.
-
The United States bombed an Iranian girls’ elementary school, killing at least 175 people, many of them girls between the ages of 7 and 12, according to the New York Times.
-
Joe Rogan, the podcaster who hosted and endorsed Donald Trump in 2024, said that the US military attacks on Venezuela and Iran ordered by Trump were a betrayal of voters won over by his claim to be against regime change wars.
-
As video circulating online showed oil tankers filled with Iraqi oil in flames in the Persian Gulf after reported attacks by Iran, Trump assured his supporters in Hebron, Kentucky, that the war on Iran is already over and “we won”.
