Republicans Have Been Here Before. In 2008, They Refused to Go Home.

The year was 2008, and a group of insurgent Republicans mounted a rebellion on the floor of the House of Representatives as Congress bolted for the August recess. 

Speaker Nancy Pelosi had adjourned the chamber without a vote on offshore drilling. Republicans refused to leave. The microphones were cut, the C-SPAN cameras went dark, and the lights were dimmed—and roughly 45 members kept giving speeches anyway, filling the seats with staffers, Boy Scouts, and tourists pulled in off the hallway. It was the first and only time I set foot on the House floor, documenting the drama on Twitter.

The talkathon stretched for hours and continued for days, sparking a “don’t go” rallying cry among grassroots conservatives back home.

Eighteen years later, it’s now the Senate, not the House, where another group of Republicans is asking their leadership to delay recess. The difference is that this time, the standoff is with their own party.

A Standoff With Their Own Leader

President Donald Trump wants the Senate to stay in Washington until it passes the SAVE America Act. The man they need to convince, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, wants someone to show him how that ends in a victory.

The standoff has defined the final week before the Senate’s five-week August recess, and it has exposed a rift between Republicans at the worst possible moment: three months before an election that will decide control of Congress.

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Trump has been unequivocal about where the bill ranks on his agenda.

“There is nothing more important than the SAVE America Act,” the president said this week. “I think they should stay. They do what they want, but I think they should stay.”

Thune, for his part, insists he isn’t the obstacle. The South Dakota Republican has repeatedly pointed out that the chamber has already voted on the measure five times and spent two full weeks debating it on the floor.

“I’ve been very clear about the prospects for the SAVE America Act,” Thune said. “The only thing I’ve said all along is that we’ve voted on the SAVE America Act five times. It was the pending business on the floor of the Senate for two weeks. I am willing, in any way possible, to get that across the finish line if there is a path to do it.”

His frustration appears aimed less at the contents of the bill than at the math of getting it to the president’s desk. He even suggested that Republicans pivot to making it a campaign issue.

“There are no Democrats who are going to vote for this,” Thune said. “All 47 voted against the SAVE Act five times, so let’s make this an issue in the campaign. How about we go out and turn our fire on Democrats and make it about them?”

The Senate’s To-Do List

Other Republicans are less willing to concede that August is off the table. 

Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” laid out a three-item to-do list for the week: a continuing resolution to fund the government past Sept. 30, confirmation of more of Trump’s nominees, and a $95 billion reconciliation package that carries election reforms drawn from the SAVE America Act.

“It’s a lot this week,” Lankford told Fox News’ Shannon Bream. “If we don’t get it done this week, we’ll keep going until we do get it done.”

“There’s not a plan to leave when it’s unfinished,” the Oklahoma Republican later added. “All those three things, they’ll happen this week, or we’ll keep going to be able to get them done. So, the focus is to be able to get them done.”

What the SAVE America Act Actually Does

Conservatives aren’t satisfied with the status quo, nor should they be.

The SAVE America Act, introduced by Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, would require proof of citizenship to register to vote, photo identification to cast a ballot, and other commonsense election reforms to reduce fraud and restore confidence in our elections.

After winning approval in the House of Representatives, Lee has made it a priority to do the same in the Senate. He’s presented Senate GOP leadership with no shortage of ideas and amassed a growing chorus of colleagues who want to cancel or delay August recess.

Lee, Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, and more than a dozen colleagues are standing with Trump and asking fellow Republicans to use August to act on the legislation. Lee has warned that how Republicans handle the bill could shape not just November but the next round of Senate GOP leadership elections.

Trump, meanwhile, has renewed his call to scrap the legislative filibuster altogether—an idea that lacks 50 Republican votes. It’s why Lee has instead asked the Senate to scrap the “zombie filibuster,” demanding that Republicans force Democrats to actually show up and debate the legislation rather than block it from the comfort of an empty chamber.

Lee has the data to back up his point. Voter ID commands support from more than 80% of Americans, the highest level ever recorded in some surveys. The obstacle isn’t public opinion. It’s Democrat obstruction—and that’s an argument Republicans should want to have in front of voters, not one they should be having with each other.

The Lesson of the 2008 Revolt

The 2008 protest produced pressure on Democrats—and by that fall, with public opinion moved, they let the offshore drilling ban lapse rather than keep defending it.

That’s the lesson worth remembering. Republicans don’t win this by turning their fire inward. They win it by making Democrats answer for their opposition to proof of citizenship and voter ID—and by refusing to go home quietly until they do.