The Senate just pulled an absolute power move right before skipping town for an entire month.
In a flurry of activity late Friday, the GOP majority pushed through a whopping 74 of President Donald Trump's picks for top government posts, as Conservative Brief reported. The vote was tight at 51 to 47, but it got the job done. Among the heavy hitters confirmed were Cameron Hamilton to run FEMA, Hal Duncan as deputy director at the Office of Management and Budget, and David Cummins to lead the TSA.
Now here is where things get spicy with Hamilton. This guy was already serving as acting FEMA chief earlier in Trump's second term, but he bounced from that gig after publicly declaring he did not think the agency should be eliminated. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you! He got a second chance at the job after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem departed her position earlier this year.
Cummins, the new TSA boss, comes straight from the private sector. He was a senior vice president at a company called Serco before getting tapped for government service.
But here is the juicy part that has everyone buzzing. While Republicans scored big on confirmations, they left one massive piece of unfinished business sitting on the table. The SAVE America Act, which Trump has called a cornerstone of his election integrity push, still has not crossed the finish line. The chamber will not reconvene until September 14, meaning this legislation is collecting dust for weeks.
The bill would force people to show documentary proof of citizenship when registering for federal elections. Democrats are screaming that it would create barriers for eligible voters who might not have passports or birth certificates handy. They also argue that noncitizen voting is extremely uncommon.
Except there is a massive hole in that argument. The Trump administration has reportedly uncovered hundreds of thousands of noncitizens sitting on voter rolls across the country.
And get this bombshell out of New Jersey. Democratic Governor Mikie Sherrill admitted last month that a software glitch in the state's motor vehicle system improperly registered approximately 6,600 people who specifically indicated they were NOT citizens between June 2023 and June 2024. These individuals literally answered no when asked about citizenship on a keypad, and the system enrolled them anyway.
Sherrill pointed the finger at IDEMIA, the software vendor responsible for the system. But IDEMIA fired right back, saying their job is only to transmit data and that the state's Division of Elections bears responsibility for checking voter eligibility. Classic blame game.
So the Senate bolted for vacation with confirmations locked in but a major Trump priority gathering cobwebs. Buckle up for a wild September when lawmakers return and this fight kicks into high gear.
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