GOP returns to Congress facing a narrower majority and a stalled agenda

Bipartisan housing bill took effect Saturday without Trump’s signature

Republican lawmakers return to the Capitol this week facing a lengthy to-do list and President Donald Trump’s demands for new voting rules, as Democrats seek to highlight their own priorities ahead of the November midterm elections, The Guardian reported.

Lawmakers from both parties are eager to show legislative results before voters with control of Congress at stake. For Senate Republicans, already navigating demands from the White House, the agenda grew further complicated with the death of Lindsey Graham, the budget committee chair and a key player in negotiating a party-line bill to fund additional defense spending and other presidential priorities, according to The Guardian.

Together with the ongoing absence of McConnell for unexplained health issues, Senate Republicans will have to navigate a majority that is down two members. South Carolina’s governor was expected to appoint a replacement for Graham in the coming days, The Guardian reported.

The Save America Act, which would ban mail-in ballots and impose new rules on voting nationwide, passed the House earlier this year almost entirely with Republican votes. But the bill has no path through the Senate, where it faces opposition from all Democrats and some Republicans, according to the report. When Senate Republicans put a version of the bill up for a vote last month, it failed, with all Democrats opposing it along with four Republicans.

Trump has refused to sign a major bipartisan housing bill in protest of the lack of progress on the Save America Act. The legislation went into effect on Saturday without his signature.

The standoff has also complicated the renewal of a key foreign surveillance law, which expired in June after a compromise measure to extend it was voted down. Democrats opposed the renewal over Trump’s appointment of an inexperienced loyalist as acting director of national intelligence, according to the report. Trump has since nominated U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton as the permanent director but quickly scuppered his confirmation hearing and tied renewal of the surveillance law to passage of the Save America Act.

Congressional Republican leaders hope to get back on track when lawmakers return beginning Monday. The House is expected to vote this week on an appropriations measure for the State Department and related agencies. The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled two days of confirmation hearings for Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general Trump has nominated to the post, though it was unclear if Graham’s death — he served on the committee — would affect the schedule. The Intelligence Committee has separately announced that Clayton’s confirmation is back on.

The Save America Act is also expected to remain a point of contention in the House, where supporters of the bill have pushed to attach it to a must-pass defense policy measure in an effort to force action in the Senate. Before the recess began late last month, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna and allies blocked procedural motions that would have allowed consideration of unrelated bills, in an effort to pressure GOP leaders over the president’s priority legislation. In the weeks since, Luna has signaled no change in her strategy while criticizing Senate Majority Leader John Thune for not backing changes to the filibuster, which could allow Senate Republicans to overcome Democratic objections and pass the Save America Act.

“The House has now passed it THREE TIMES and each time we pass it to the Senate they FAIL. The people want it. The House wants it. The president wants it,” Luna wrote on social media, according to The Guardian. Thune, she wrote, “is claiming it’s a numbers problem. I think it’s evident it’s a leadership problem.”

Democrats have signaled they intend to make the Republican legislative record a campaign issue ahead of the November midterms. After Trump announced his refusal to sign the housing bill, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said: “Republicans would rather make it harder to vote than easier to afford a home. When people show you who they are, believe them.”

Concerns over the integrity of the November election have also risen among Democrats after Trump ousted three members of an independent federal commission that worked with states on administering elections, The Guardian reported.

Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the commissioners’ removal was a sign that Trump was seeking to “rig” the upcoming elections.

“We need to have fair elections, and every day, Trump tries to dismember and dismantle the process,” Warner said. “Isn’t there anyone on the Republican side willing to stand up for our democratic process? Time will tell.”