Republican pushback

The Republican-led South Carolina Senate voted Tuesday against advancing a new congressional map, ending the redistricting effort in the state for now.

The failed vote on a motion to end debate on the proposal was a surprise rejection of President Donald Trump, who had urged lawmakers to pass the redrawn map that eliminated the state’s single majority-Black district, represented by longtime Democratic Rep. James Clyburn.

“Neither my conscience nor my common sense will allow me to stop an election that is already underway,” said Republican state Sen. Richard Cash, who changed his vote due to timing.

Seven Republican senators joined Democrats early on Friday to block the extension of a powerful government surveillance program, a rebuke to Donald Trump for choosing an inexperienced ally as the country’s top intelligence official.

The US Senate will not pass the $70bn legislation ahead of a 1 June deadline set by the US president, Republican senators told reporters on Thursday, as lawmakers leave Washington for the Memorial Day recess.

It comes amid backlash from members of Trump’s own party against an attempt to latch funding for his ballroom project on to the immigration bill.

The plan prompted intense anxiety among congressional Republicans, who feared diverting taxpayer dollars toward Trump’s “East Wing modernization project” amid mounting cost of living concerns across the US would risk alienating voters ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Some Senate Republicans have also expressed concerns about a plan, announced on Monday, to create a secretive $1.776bn fund – which critics have argued is essentially a slush fund – to compensate Trump allies as part of an agreement in which the president and his sons dropped a $10bn long-shot lawsuit against the US Internal Revenue Service.

The move could lead to a swift confirmation vote by the Senate for Warsh, a former top Fed official whom President Donald Trump, a Republican, nominated in January to replace Powell. Powell’s term as chair ends May 15. Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, had said he would oppose Warsh until the investigation was resolved, effectively blocking his confirmation.

The South Carolina Senate failed on Tuesday to reach the necessary two-thirds vote to agree with House changes made to the sine die resolution that would have allowed lawmakers to take up congressional redistricting after session ends Thursday.

That means the effort pushed by White House allies and President Donald Trump is nearly dead for the year amid the rushed redistricting debate with one more day left on the calendar.

The dramatic 29-17 vote — five Republican senators joined the 12 Democrats — came after hours of passionate floor speeches, including from one of the top Republicans in the upper chamber.

The vote was a rare rebuke from a southern state as others have acquiesced to pressure from Trump to help shore up Republican seats in Congress.

"My conscience is clear on this one," Massey told his colleagues Tuesday, noting the choice to oppose the mid-decade redistricting effort wasn't "hard" for him.

Four Republican senators voted against an amendment sponsored by Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) to instruct the Senate Rules Committee to find a way to add the core elements of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act to a budget reconciliation package that could pass next month with a simple-majority vote.

Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) voted against Kennedy’s proposed instruction to the Senate Rules Committee to craft a bill that would ensure only American citizens vote in federal elections, require all voters to show proof of identity, and to require all ballots be counted within 36 hours of Election Day.