Of all the factions, forces and tribes at play here in the nation’s capital, the most powerful force is the calendar, and this year, against President Donald J. Trump, it proved who the real boss is in this town.
The president’s top priority was the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, which Trump dubbed the SAVE America Act. The bill is comprehensive election and voter integrity legislation that also bans the genital mutilation of minors and places restrictions on mail-in ballots.
Democrats and the Republican Senate leadership recognized at once that the voter ID and citizenship verification requirements in the bill would make it easier for MAGA candidates to win—and harder for everyone else to steal elections—so they blocked the measure.
For Senate Majority Leader John R. Thune (R-S.D.), it was not a matter of making rhetorical arguments or defending the corrupt system that put him in power. It was simply a matter of running out the calendar.
Trump played the game well in the first year of his second term, passing the One Big Beautiful Bill through the House and Senate by July 3 so he could sign the massive tax and policy package on July 4.
When Trump returned to the White House, Thune immediately proposed a two-bill strategy: first, quickly pass a bill with everything Thune and his allies wanted; second, pass a bill with everything Trump wanted.
The president recognized the ruse from his first term, so he rolled the renewal of his 2017 tax cuts, along with no taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security, into the OBBB.
In Washington, most major work gets done between the president’s address to a joint session of Congress and the Fourth of July. After Independence Day, lawmakers head home for parades and picnics, returning after Labor Day for the annual struggle to fund the government.
That budget dysfunction often stretches well into the next calendar year. Since President Richard M. Nixon signed the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Act into law on July 12, 1974, Congress has completed the budget on time only a handful of times.
The SAVE America Act is not the federal budget, but it faces the same obstacle: once the fireworks fade over the White House, time becomes the president’s greatest enemy.
Yes, Thune gets credit for protecting what critics call a broken and bogus election system. But the real credit goes to the calendar—the champion once again.