SAVE America Act Showdown: The June 12 Deadline Closing In | Hon. Mark Meadows

[00:00:14] Welcome to The Jenny Beth Show. The most fundamental promise of self-government is simple. The people decide. Citizens, and only citizens, decide who leads this country. That principle is so basic, so obvious, that 87% of Americans across every party line agree. Only American citizens should vote in American elections for President, Senate and Congress.

[00:00:39] And yet, right now, that principle is being blocked, not just by Democrats, we expect that, but also by Republican senators who have the power to pass the Save America Act and are choosing not to use it. My guest today is Mark Meadows. He spent years on Capitol Hill and inside the White House fighting for the America First agenda. He served first as a congressman and then as President Trump's chief of staff through some of the most turbulent months in American history.

[00:01:08] He's still fighting for conservative values. I'm Jenny Beth Martin, and this is The Jenny Beth Show. Mark, thank you so much for joining me today. It's great to be with you, and thank you for all that you're doing to lead that cause of freedom. You're not a rookie in this fight, and so it is great to join you and all those that are tuned in today.

[00:01:31] Well, thank you. And Mark, you are one of my favorite—well, I guess you're former now, but you're one of my favorite people who has ever been a congressman. And I appreciate everything that you do to stand up for freedom and to stand up for conservative values and also to stand up for President Trump's America First agenda. You did it while you were in Congress. You did it on inside the White House, and you didn't just go off into the sunset in retirement. You're still fighting for it every single day.

[00:02:01] Well, you're very kind to say that. You know, you're in the fight every single day, and it's great when we can talk either by phone or text and say, you know, this is a fight that we need to take to Capitol Hill. And you're really good. And just a shout out to you and all those that are tuned in. Really good at applying pressure at just the right moment.

[00:02:27] I think for me, there are a lot of people who talk about, well, we're going to get this done or we're going to get that done. And normally it's just a whole bunch of this and not a whole lot of action that follows the rhetoric. And you've been able to not only stay in the fight, but encourage people like me that, you know, as a former congressman, the shelf life of a former congressman is about six months. And I'm way past my expiration date.

[00:02:57] But it is good to be in the fight. And candidly, some of the things like the Save America Act that you and I and a few others have been working on, nobody was talking about nine or ten months ago. I mean, nine or ten weeks ago. And now all of a sudden, not only did it take over and captivate a lot of people on Capitol Hill, a lot of the legacy media people are covering it.

[00:03:25] And they're having to cover it because we've made sure that it's an issue for our House members and our Senate members. That's exactly right. So let's delve into the Save America Act. It's basically stalled out in the Senate. And the call to action that Cleta Mitchell and I have been giving people for the last couple of weeks is to call back to the House side and urge your congressman to attach the Save America Act to to every single bill.

[00:03:54] And I think you've even posted about that same as that call to action on X. Why is that the right strategy right now? Well, listen, senators don't have real backbones of steel, as you know. And it's normally they defer to the least common denominator.

[00:04:13] And when you do that, whether it's deferring to Democrats or deferring to, honestly, Republicans that are not as engaged on this particular issue as you and I are, it's very troubling. And so to attach it to every single bill, ultimately what happens is it gets attached to a must pass piece of legislation that will get sent to the president's desk.

[00:04:40] But I can tell you, it's not going to happen until something that the swamp wants gets defeated. And if the swamp gets defeated, then they will all of a sudden rise up and think that the Save America Act is something that they need to act on.

[00:04:57] But until that happens, until either one of their favorite bills goes down or the president vetoes a bill, I think we have to attach it to every single thing and then make sure that that everybody's on record, if nothing more, of being against the Save America Act, which 85 percent of America or more is actually for it.

[00:05:23] I think more for it, you know, bluntly, the 85 percent is a huge number. But I think the ones that are not for it just don't understand it or have believed the false narrative. And it's time that we get it signed into law. President Trump's with us on this. And probably to be more accurate, we're with President Trump on it. But we've we've got to get it done. Yeah, we absolutely have to get it done.

[00:05:50] And I think that I honestly I've talked to a few of the senators. I've talked to senators like Senator Mike Lee and Senators Ron Johnson and Rick Scott and Ted Cruz. And they understand that we want this done and why we want this done. And they seem they are committed to helping us with with with this. And of course, Mike Lee has just been a bulldog over in this.

[00:06:18] And as a UGA grad, I think that's a good thing. He's been over there just determined to do everything he can to get this bill passed into law. But I've spoken to other senators who I think. Well, first, I think that they thought they could just kind of blow smoke and that I would believe their lies. And I didn't. So they had to adjust some of what they said. But also, I don't think they understand this is actually a big deal to Americans.

[00:06:47] Maybe it's not the most important issue. It's not going to be the most important issue when they come to when it comes to Election Day on the issues they care about when they're deciding who to vote for. But it is a huge deal when they're actually in the process of voting because they want to know that when they're casting that vote, it's only American American citizens deciding who who is going to represent us.

[00:07:13] And I just I think they're so disconnected, probably because they've spent way too much time in Washington, D.C., that they don't understand this is actually a big deal to those of us who've watched the massive amounts of immigration that happened during the Biden administration. Well, Jenny Beth, two things that I would say to that. One is is is is there they're not fooling you. You've you've this is not your first or second or third rodeo.

[00:07:41] You've you've seen how the bull comes out of the chute, so to speak, metaphorically. And and what we also know is that what they want to be able to do, what those senators want to be able to do. And I'm not talking about the heroes that you mentioned, the Mike Lees and the Ron Johnson's, Ted Cruz and and and and Rick Scott's. I'm not talking about them because they're they're doing yeoman's work trying to help us get this across the finish line.

[00:08:09] But a lot of others, even some that we would say are on our side, want to pat you on the head and say, thank you, Jenny Beth. I appreciate it. I'm fighting as hard as I can. But again, that gets back to what how we started this segment is this is not about just patting us on the head. We're not going to go away until it gets done. And attaching it to every bill is a critical tactic.

[00:08:37] But the other part of that that I think is most troubling to me is is that you see senators, both Democrat and Republican senators, passing the Senate housing bill. They came through the Senate and they had over over 80 senators vote for it. And and Elizabeth Warren is one of the key sponsors of that. And so if you can't get the Save America Act, but you can get an Elizabeth Warren housing bill through the Senate.

[00:09:05] There is a you know, there's a problem where or as they would say on one of my favorite music, there's trouble in River City. And it begins with a capital T. Yeah. You know, what is I think the most frustrating part about not being able to get the Senate to act on this? Mark, you know, I absolutely cannot stand how much money the government spends.

[00:09:26] So we are here championing a bill that pretty much spends, especially in government terms, hardly any money at all. It is not an expensive bill. It is just righting a wrong in the National Voter Registration Act and saying now require proof of citizenship. The voter idea aspect requiring that you have to have that to get to get cigarettes and to get alcohol and to check into a hotel and to go to an airport.

[00:09:56] Gas station clerks and grocery store clerks know how to check IDs. So it's not that difficult to train people on how to get that done. It isn't very expensive and we can't get it done. But something like the housing bill, which will restrict freedom and will cost a massive amount of money for the government. They're all too happy to just bend over backwards to spend more of our tax dollars.

[00:10:22] But when it's something that doesn't actually cost a lot of money, they have no willingness to do it. It's shocking to me. Yeah, I think probably the biggest thing, again, gets to that if they're wanting to spend that kind of money, it's going to require conservatives both in the House and the Senate. And really the president threatening a veto on anything that comes that until this gets passed.

[00:10:50] Listen, the housing bill they want, is that a must pass piece of legislation? No, it's only must pass to the special interest groups on on both sides of the Capitol. But in their mind, they've got to get this done. I would say that lowering interest rates instead of passing a housing bill would do a whole lot more to the real estate side of things.

[00:11:15] But, you know, you mentioned really Mike Lee being a bulldog on this and and and using that term as endearment. I think we're dressing him in red, red and black. You know, we now now we'll we'll give him a new red and black suit because he has been a bulldog. He's not giving up.

[00:11:37] And yet, even with that, the people that are tuned in right now calling to encourage Mike Lee and Rick Scott and Ron Johnson and Ted Cruz, calling them if there's a call to action. I would just call and say thank you for standing strong on the Save America Act. Light up the switchboards in terms of a positive message with some of them because it gets weary.

[00:12:02] As you know, you've been a warrior out there and you're fighting and you come come back home and you're you're bloodied and and beat up and you want to go back in the fight. And if somebody just gives you a little bit more than a golf clap, you're ready to charge the hill again. And and that's what we need to do with our senators that are actually standing strong on this particular issue.

[00:12:27] I love that, Mark. So normally we ask people to call their own congressman or their own senator. But let me just give a quick call to action right now. And people who are watching or listening to this, you can press pause after I give you the call to action. Take this call to action and then listen to the end of the interview.

[00:12:48] Just dial the Capitol switchboard right now, which is 202-224-3121 and call it call three times and call and ask to speak to Senator Mike Lee's office and then Senator Ron Johnson and then Senator Rick Scott and thank every single one of them. And it doesn't matter whether you're their constituent or not. Just say thank you for everything you're doing for the Save America Act.

[00:13:14] And I think that's really important that they hear that message. So that is our call to action for today. You mentioned that you think that President Trump should be willing to veto legislation. And we have also been urging people to tag President Trump and the White House on social media. Thank him for his support of the Save America Act and urge him to veto legislation. Why is that aspect so important, Mark?

[00:13:44] Well, I think probably the biggest thing is when the president has made his voice very clear on the Save America Act and with election integrity more broadly, he's really made the clarion call for all of us to make sure that we're engaged. But why is the veto so important? Because what you're getting right now is you're getting different coalitions.

[00:14:09] You're getting a coalition of moderate Republicans along with Democrats to kind of say, hey, we don't care what the president thinks. We're going to send him a bill anyways. And yet there wouldn't be enough to override a veto. But, you know, when you when you have four or five Democrats that will team up with moderate Republicans, and it would take more than that.

[00:14:36] Actually, it'd take, you know, the seven or eight Democrats to team up with the moderate Republicans or vice versa. You take a Democrat bill and you get eight or nine. And it's not a Republican or in the case of the housing bill. It's even more than that. Republicans jumping in. It really is incumbent upon the president to make sure that his voice is not disregarded.

[00:15:01] And I can tell you, there's nothing more disingenuous than a Republican senator who would say, oh, I'm all for President Trump. And then passing things that honestly are not along with his agenda. And it's why we've called him out. It's why you've called him out.

[00:15:23] And bluntly, it's why the American people lighting up that switchboard number that you're talking about in this case to applaud the effort of some real patriots. But sometimes, as Ronald Reagan used to say, if you can't make them see the light, they need to feel the heat. And I'm not above calling people to make sure that our senators and House members need to feel the heat. Yeah, they absolutely need to feel to feel the heat.

[00:15:49] So, Mark, we have watched the elections in the last week. We're recording this. We're pre-recording this. But what we have seen is that Senator Cassidy lost his election. And we're recording this before the Texas primary. We saw that President Trump has endorsed against Cornyn and for Paxton.

[00:16:15] And I think that maybe, well, I know based on things, media reports that I've heard, that that is affecting inside the Republican Senate conference right now. And there are Republican senators who are just very angry. They couldn't get the Reconciliation 2.0 bill done. That would be the bill that would fund, finish funding ICE and Customs and Border Patrol. They couldn't get that funded. They've left now for Memorial Day.

[00:16:45] How do you think that those election losses are going to impact what we're doing for Save America and for funding ICE and Border Patrol? Well, ultimately, I think ICE and Border Patrol gets funded. It's a question of how much do those senators, whether it's Senator Cassidy, Senator Tillis, Senator Cornyn, perhaps.

[00:17:13] You know, as you're viewing this, you'll know whether he was defeated or not. Polling suggests that Ken Paxton is going to go on to a victory. But as you mentioned, we're recording this before that election. But I would say that it really depends on how much they're wanting to extract from this president.

[00:17:35] Now, the very fact that they couldn't get this done before they left for the Memorial Day holidays really speaks more to their being upset that the president endorsed against John Cornyn. And what they took hostage, honestly, was the weaponization, the DOJ $1.8 billion weaponization fund, which is not even in Reconciliation 2.0.

[00:18:03] So if you talk about a birdbath, it's very hard to have a parliamentarian weigh in on that particular fund when it isn't part of the base tax. And so we'll see how creative they get. And listen, I can go on and on about the parliamentarian. By the way, a non-elected parliamentarian that was put into office by Democrat Harry Reid.

[00:18:29] And yet she continues to tell both Leader Thune and other senators what can go in and what can't. And honestly, a lot of times they use her as an excuse. I can tell you that. How do I know that? Because when I was in Congress, we were trying to repeal Obamacare. We were trying to lower taxes. And she kept, quote, saying that it couldn't get done. Well, that's what they were telling us in the House. And come to find out, no one had ever talked to her.

[00:18:59] So I had some friends, Senators Mike Lee and others actually just weigh in. And with the parliamentarian, we were able to actually get not only the taxes lower and had it not been for John McCain's thumb down in the middle of the night, we would have gotten Obamacare repealed back then. But let me go a little bit further. I do think we get Reconciliation 2.0 done.

[00:19:26] They will probably put some guardrails perhaps on the weaponization fund if they can somehow pigeonhole that in there. But the other thing, they're going to have a voterama. So let's make sure that we have Save America Act in there, not once but multiple times in different ways. Let's have the full Save America Act. Let's have voter ID in there. Let's make sure that what we do, here's another one that might be a good amendment.

[00:19:56] Let's, for all those that say, oh gosh, well, some of the people that are below the poverty line, they can't afford an ID. Let's make the SNAP EBT cards have their picture on it and make it a formal, actually, ID that they can use for voting. Let's throw that as an amendment. So all of that, I know you and I have been talking offline about some of those options.

[00:20:24] I do think we end up funding ICE and Border Patrol. Perhaps Senate being out for a week or two will actually lower the temperature a little bit. And at the end of the day, that'll get done. Why? Because it spends money. And there's two kinds of people that love to spend money in D.C., Democrats and Republicans. Yes, that is exactly right. They always want to spend more money.

[00:20:53] Mark, I think what you were just saying about the voterama is really important. And just add the Save America Act. Add it again. Add another piece. Add the proof of citizenship. Add as a standalone. Add voter ID as a standalone. Add the idea that you have about putting a photo on the EBT card. Just keep on filling it up with those kind of amendments.

[00:21:18] When it comes to voterama for reconciliation, is it unlimited amendments or is there an amendment tree? And I know I'm getting into the weeds, so you may have to explain the difference to the audience with what I mean. Yeah, so the amendment tree, for those of you that are tuned in, is actually when Leader Thune will put forth a certain number of amendments. And it fills up what they call the amendment tree.

[00:21:46] So those are the only amendments that can be voted on. If one of them falls out, then he can fill it back up with an amendment that he wants. When you have the amendment tree, it's basically a way of Leader Thune controlling the amendments that can be offered on any given bill. And why has that been an issue recently? Well, he said he didn't want to do the Save America Act because it would open it up to unlimited amendments and a voterama.

[00:22:15] So guess what? Newsflash, everybody. It was only because he said that, that they did the amendment tree and the standing filibuster that Mike Lee and others actually engaged in. But now because they're wanting to spend money, oh, it's unlimited amendments are fine. And so that it is not an amendment tree. It's any amendment. And you could throw any amendment out there.

[00:22:39] And one of the reasons why I say to take the Save America Act and then some of the other individual bills is because within 24 hours of the standing filibuster, when Mike Lee and Rick Scott and others went to the Senate floor to debate the Save America Act, Chuck Schumer was on the Senate floor saying he was for voter ID. He just was against the Save America Act. So I say, let's take him at its word.

[00:23:09] If he's for voter ID, let's put a voter ID out there. I guarantee you not a single Democrat will vote for just a standalone voter ID either. If they do, great. We'll have that part of it done for the Save America Act. But this is all about making sure that we get something done in the end for election integrity. And you and Cleta and others have really been all over this. And I applaud you for doing that.

[00:23:38] Thank you very much, Mark. Let me ask you one more thing about the amendments for what you're talking about with reconciliation. They had a voterama for the budget resolution that leads to the reconciliation about three or so weeks ago.

[00:23:56] And Senator Kennedy from Louisiana offered the Save America Act as an amendment and it failed 50 to 48 with Susan Collins voting against it, along with Murkowski and McConnell and Tillis. But I think and I haven't gone to double check and make sure I'm completely right about this. I believe that Senator Grassley was not in the chamber when that vote happened. So it would have been 49 had he been there.

[00:24:26] Senator Collins has been raising money and sending out fundraising appeals about the Save America Act. So I don't know why she voted against it when it came up for a vote when she's been fundraising off of it. That I'm unclear about that. And I don't know what her specific objection was that day.

[00:24:46] But I think that if they're going to do this and offer amendments during reconciliation, whichever member offers those amendments, whichever senator offers those amendments, they need to make sure that all the other senators are present voting so we don't lose votes that way.

[00:25:06] And then they need to go figure out what will it take to get Collins and maybe even Murkowski to vote yes so that they have the most likely yes possible. And I don't think obviously Senator Kennedy did not try to do that. And I don't understand if he's on Fox News talking about how supportive he is of the bill. Why didn't he make sure he was looking at the votes to to do that when he offered that amendment?

[00:25:36] Yeah, sometimes it's more of a tactical challenge than anything else. And I can tell you without betraying any competences that there are some behind the scenes maneuvers by Mike Lee and Rick Scott and some of their staff working with the senators that you mentioned to try to find what their objections are.

[00:26:03] And again, you know, if their objections are one component of the Save America Act. Well, let's go ahead and get the part that that's done and and and that we can get done. And I think that's your point. Make sure that Grassley and others are there. Here's the the other interesting fact, though. And and you you hit upon this.

[00:26:26] And that's why attaching this bill to a must pass piece of legislation is is so critically important. One of the things that's must pass in the view of Washington, D.C. is the FISA reauthorization.

[00:26:44] And for those of your viewers and listeners that are not familiar with that, you know, it's a foreign intelligence surveillance act that allows us to to actually listen in on phone conversations. Some of us believe that there should be a warrant that is attached to that. And that's been the debate that's going back and forth. That largely has support from both Democrats and Republicans.

[00:27:11] And yet, if if a if a streamlined voter I.D. was attached to that, I think what you would get are all the Republicans voting for that. And I do think you would pick up 10 to 15 Democrats that would vote for that and get you past that 60 vote cloture threshold.

[00:27:34] At the end of the day, we we've got to make sure in the base bill that there is either the Save America Act or a voter I.D. with a caveat that U.S. citizenship and only U.S. citizens should be voting in federal elections.

[00:27:53] That goes against a lot of what the Democrats want and espouse and actually campaign on if you get them to be clear and and very candid about it. But we've got to make sure it happens. And if it doesn't happen on this watch, it's never going to happen. And I also think, you know, if if somebody from J.D. Vance's office is tuned in and listening,

[00:28:22] that what he ought to do is actually take one of his staffers that's working for him right now, since he's part of the Senate, he has a position as the vice president. He ought to have one of his staffers working very closely with this parliamentarian to make sure that this to save America Act and other good things happen. I don't know that there are a whole lot of people reaching out to him to suggest that.

[00:28:50] But I think it's it. It becomes really the 800 pound gorilla meeting with the parliamentarian. And I would challenge her to say no to the vice president of the United States. That is a really good idea, Mark. We have to make sure that that gets to the vice president's staff. I think that's a brilliant idea. OK, so we've covered the Save America Act.

[00:29:15] Very quickly, before you go, there is also talk of Reconciliation 3.0. Could you just explain to people what what that might entail and what that would would look like? Yeah. So right now, there are a number of people in the White House. There are a number of people on Capitol Hill, primarily over in the House looking at Reconciliation 3.0.

[00:29:38] And and for those that are tuned in right now, you have three bites of the apple, oftentimes with what they call the reconciliation bill. When you have a Republican majority in the House, Senate and White House, you can do this procedure called reconciliation. And why it's called that you're reconciling two sides of it.

[00:30:01] It's it's it's a bad name, in my opinion, for a budget process that that actually allows you to just keep a 50 vote threshold. But Reconciliation 3.0, I think we'll have a couple of components, lower taxes, lower regulations to the extent that we can get that done.

[00:30:23] One of the things for me, we've been fighting many, many, many, many years for a limit on the the federal bureaucracy to write rules. We're still writing rules from the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act that was passed decades ago. And they're still writing rules and making laws. They can make law quicker with a rule than than a member of Congress can even think about it. And so limiting that, having that part of it.

[00:30:52] But I think what you'll see is is lower taxes, lower regulations, something to do with the military spending. That's going to be the Christmas tree with the Christmas lights that brings everybody together. Well, we've got to get our troops more money for this or that. They may want to backfill some of the money that's been spent on this Iranian conflict.

[00:31:19] But I'm not real bullish on that happening before November. But I do think that if we're getting prepared for it, that you can prepare in the lame duck that there's a good chance that that will happen if they get the Reconciliation 2.0 done. Now, there's a chance you and I've talked on offline about this that they could take Reconciliation 2.0.

[00:31:44] And if it stalls out a little bit, that they add some military funding to it and then some emergency relief in some areas to buy votes. I don't think that will happen, but it could happen if if they don't get something passed in the next couple of weeks. Listen, everything for all of you that are tuned in right now, you need to stay focused on the week leading up to June 12th.

[00:32:10] That week prior to that, it's going to be all hands on decks on Capitol Hill because you're going to have Reconciliation 2.0. You're going to have the FISA reauthorization. There's a chance that you would have a housing committee come together where you're actually trying to reconcile the two bills between the House and the Senate. And you may even have the farm bill.

[00:32:35] So my concern is, is that they attach all of that together and make it one beautiful mess to buy votes. So we need to stay vigilant and you may need that phone on speed dial during that week leading up to June 12th. Well, that would be one massive mess. We had one big, beautiful bill. That would be one massive mess. But June 12th. So that is very important.

[00:33:04] And then that's when the FISA deadline is, right? Right. Yeah. So you have the FISA deadline. So they're going to act on FISA during that week leading up to it. And it's a matter of what gets attached. What I think needs to be attached is the Save America Act.

[00:33:23] And if they put the Save America Act or even if it has to be more of a streamlined voter ID attached to that during that week, I think you pick up Murkowski and Collins. I think you pick up Tom Tillis. I also think you pick up seven or eight Democrats. But you're going to have to have the staying power to be willing to say we're going to let FISA expire if this doesn't get done.

[00:33:52] Because if not, they'll just extend it for another 45 days and we'll be here in November talking about it. Yeah. That will be awful. So that also, well, okay. So I'm not going to go where I was about to go. All right. So that's really important. So the call to action is kind of maybe it's fourfold.

[00:34:18] It's telling the House to attach it to every bill, including FISA, especially FISA, but to every bill. Then it's calling your own senators and telling them to pass the Save America Act. It's calling the three huge champions on the Senate side, Mike Lee and Ron Johnson and Rick Scott, and thanking them and encouraging them to keep going.

[00:34:42] And then it's urging the president to be willing, thanking the president and urging him to be willing to veto legislation if he doesn't get this critical piece attached to some legislation in the next few weeks. And we need to get it all done like in the next week and a half because June 12th is going to be here before we know it. So there is a lot of acting that we need to be taking right now. A lot of action items we need to be taking right now.

[00:35:11] Yeah, you've said it real well. And for those that are tuned in, really pay attention between the middle part of June and the end of July, because if it's going to happen, it's going to happen in that six weeks. After that, you know, I think there's less than 21 legislative days between then and November. It is, you know, a few weeks in September and that's about it.

[00:35:37] And so the next six weeks when the Senate and the House come back will be critical and don't allow for that. We'll get it done after the November elections. We need Save America Act in now for the November elections and obviously for the elections coming up in 2020. Very good. Mark Meadows, thank you so much for joining me today. I really appreciate this.

[00:36:04] It's very actionable and I appreciate your commitment to conservatism and our Constitution. Thank you so much, Mark. It was great joining you. God bless you. Thank you for being in the fight and all those that are tuned in. Thank you for being real patriots and loving this country. God bless you. If you enjoyed today's conversation, go ahead and hit like and subscribe. It really helps us reach more people who care about liberty and the Constitution.

[00:36:30] You can find this and other episodes at JennyBethShow.com, as well as Facebook, YouTube, Rumble, Instagram, X, and your favorite podcast platform. The Jenny Beth Show is hosted by Jenny Beth Martin. The Jenny Beth Show is a production of Tea Party Patriots Action. For more information, visit teapartypatriots.org.