<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>DALLAS</strong> — Rep. <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tag/anna-paulina-luna/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Anna Paulina Luna</a> (R-FL) stated on Wednesday that Senate Majority Leader <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tag/john-thune/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">John Thune</a> (R-SD) should not have attended the Republicans’ <a href="https://washingtonexaminer.com/tag/gop-convention" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">midterm convention</a>.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“I don’t think he should be here,” Luna told the <em>Washington Examiner</em> during a brief interview. “He’s the reason why we don’t have SAVE America.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Luna has expressed her disapproval of Thune’s Senate leadership, previously stating she would hold up the House floor until Thune passed the SAVE America Act, which aims to require voter ID to cast a ballot and proof of citizenship to register to vote nationwide.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Thune has indicated that he does not have the votes to advance the legislation in the Senate due to the 60-vote filibuster threshold. He has also mentioned that there is insufficient support for abolishing the filibuster along party lines in the 53-47 GOP-controlled Senate.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Unlike Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Thune is attending the GOP convention but is not scheduled to speak. A source familiar with Thune’s reasoning stated that he declined to speak at the convention to allow candidates and other Republicans to address a national audience.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Although Thune does not have a speaking slot, the source confirmed that he is in Dallas and has a “full schedule” this week.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Luna expressed her belief that even if Thune had taken the stage, he would not have received a warm welcome. “I don’t think he’d be welcome,” she said.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Luna characterized passing voter ID as a “90-10 issue” and accused Thune of “hiding behind the filibuster.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“The filibuster is a perversion of what it was supposed to represent,” Luna stated. “The Democrats, by the way, are saying they want to abolish the filibuster anyway. What gives, bro?”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Thune ruled out abolishing the filibuster during an interview last week with KELOLAND News, stating, “we don’t have close to the votes to do that.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The majority leader mentioned that the only way Congress could make “some headway” on passing components of the SAVE America Act is through a budget reconciliation bill.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">When asked about his frustration with calls to eliminate the filibuster and pass the SAVE America Act, Thune acknowledged it is frustrating in the “sense that I feel like sometimes I’m the only person in D.C. that seems to know how to count to 50.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“It’d be a better use of everybody’s time, again, I said before, to go out and make this an issue on the campaign trail and try and elect more Republicans to pass the SAVE Act rather than continue to argue a — what is going to be — it’s just a losing argument to suggest we’re going to get rid of the filibuster,” Thune added.</p>