Something Changed In Thune After Graham's Passing — The SAVE Act Is Moving | Rachel Maddow

Something changed in John Thune after Lindsey Graham's passing, and the SAVE Act suddenly has more momentum than it has ever had. For a full year, the Senate Majority Leader was the roadblock. He warned about the Byrd Rule, insisted the votes were not there, and explained over and over why the Senate could not act. Then his friend of more than two decades died suddenly on the night of July eleventh, just hours after making one final promise to President Trump. Ever since that night, everything in Washington has been moving. In this video, we break down the full story the mainstream coverage is missing. Lindsey Graham returned from his tenth trip to Ukraine, spoke with President Trump on Saturday evening, and told him the SAVE America Act was all set. Hours later, he was gone at seventy one. Graham was not just any senator. He was the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, the man who controlled reconciliation, the one legislative weapon that bypasses the filibuster entirely. His final phone call was not small talk. It was a plan. We cover what happened next. Mike Lee calling on the Senate to honor Graham's dying wish. Mike Lee and Rick Scott demanding the August recess be canceled until elections are secure. The House breaking its weeks long stalemate with a 215 to 211 vote to merge the SAVE America Act with a national security appropriations bill, the maneuver Capitol Hill calls MIRVing. Anna Paulina Luna and Tim Burchett coming home to leadership after shutting down the House floor for two straight weeks. The procedural resolution directing the SAVE Act into Reconciliation 3.0, the very vehicle Graham was building before his death. And the moment that changed everything: John Thune telling the New York Post there is a way to get it done through reconciliation, the exact path he spent months dismissing. We also explain the Byrd Rule in plain English, why the parliamentarian keeps stripping election language from budget bills, how the Senate has bent its own rules before in 2013 and 2017, and why the next eight legislative days before the August recess may decide whether proof of citizenship voting becomes law before the November third midterms, the same election that will fill Graham's own Senate seat. The House has done its job. The President is applying pressure. Now all eyes are on one man. Do you think Thune gets the SAVE Act through before the midterms? Comment yes or no below, and tell us where you are watching from.