Incumbent Senator John Cornyn reversed himself on a long-standing rule in the Senate that will make bills easier to pass. He used to be a staunch defender of the filibuster. Cornyn’s comments are part of an op-ed he wrote in the New York Post published Wednesday, titled: “Why the SAVE Act m atters more than the filibuster.” He’s competing in a tough Republican primary for Trump’s endorsement against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, bringing new life into a major voting overhaul. “I spent years defending the filibuster because the 60-vote threshold was a net benefit to Texas and our nation. Before moderate Democrats went extinct, the rules worked,” wrote Cornyn, “The Democrats’ recklessness and radicalism have changed the landscape.” Congressman Craig Goldman, R- Fort Worth, voted for the Save Act when it passed the House. “It makes complete common sense that you have to show who you are, that you’re an American citizen, to vote in American elections,” said Goldman. The proposal is intended to prevent non-citizens from voting. It’s very rare, but every few years, prosecutors bring cases against dozens of people who try. It would require people to bring their birth certificate or passport that matches their photo identification when they register to vote or renew their registration. “Bureaucracy that is going to stop millions of eligible citizens from voting in order to rectify a problem that doesn’t really exist,” said Sean Morales-Doyle from the Brennan Center for Justice. Morales-Doyle argues that states do a good job on their own in finding ineligible voters and worries about a large federal intervention months before the election. “So if this law passes, election officials around the country are going to have to figure out a way to get married women whose names have changed registered in the next few months before an election,” he said. Congressman Goldman told me the passport and birth certificate requirements would be doable for people before the elections. “I think Democrats are using anything and everything they’re pulling out of the magic bag to give reasons as to why they shouldn’t vote for that or are not going to vote for that. Again, I think they’re all excuses,” said Rep. Goldman. The legislation has passed the House but faces a tough path to 60 votes in the Senate, where Democrats have promised to filibuster it. Noncitizen voting is already illegal and very rare, and Trump has now asked Congress to add other provisions to the bill that would ban transgender people from women’s and girls’ sports. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., meanwhile, has repeatedly said that there are not enough votes in the Senate to undo the filibuster or pass the bill. “Sen. Cornyn is one of 53 Republican senators, and the opposition to nuking the filibuster runs very, very deep in our conference, I think, as you know,” he said Wednesday. Thune told reporters that he will bring the SAVE America Act to the floor, but that Democrats will vote it down. “I can guarantee the debate. I can guarantee a vote,” he said a day earlier. “I just can’t guarantee an outcome.” ...read more read less