Trump urges Senate leader block recess until voting bill passes

US President Donald Trump on Monday urged Senate Majority Leader John Thune to keep the chamber in session until it passes the SAVE America Act or eliminates the filibuster.

"John Thune should not allow the United States Senate to 'leave town' until it passes the Save America Act or, far better still, terminates the filibuster," Trump wrote on his social media company Truth Social.

The proposed SAVE America Act would require documentary proof of US citizenship to register to vote and photo identification to cast a ballot in federal elections.

Trump has also called for prohibiting most mail-in ballots, with exceptions for illness, disability, military service and travel.

He argued that removing the filibuster, a procedural rule that generally requires 60 votes to end debate and advance legislation, would allow Republicans to "quickly pass everything they ever dreamed of."

Trump claimed that Democrats would eliminate the filibuster on "day one" if given the opportunity and warned that whichever party acts first would "survive and thrive."

Trump emphasized that a simple majority vote, rather than the current 60-vote threshold, was needed to address the federal budget and the "ever looming debt ceiling disaster."

He warned that failing to act would lead to national decline, asserting: "stupidity always brings losing and death!"

While Thune had yet to respond to the public directive, Trump maintained that if Democrats were the ones to end the filibuster, the US would become a "Third World nation."