Here's where Alabama's GOP U.S. Senate candidates stand on the filibuster and the ...

WASHINGTON — As the midterms approach, congressional Republicans have escalated calls for the U.S. Senate to take up legislation requiring proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections.

To overcome the 60-vote threshold in the upper chamber, some Republicans, including Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., have called for an outright end to the filibuster, a legislative practice that broadly requires 60 votes to end debate and pass legislation in the Senate.

While others are pushing for a different tactic to usher through the elections bill by using a so-called talking filibuster. It would harken back to the original design of the legislative procedure, requiring senators to be on the Senate floor debating the legislation. Today, a “talking filibuster” would require long hours of continuous debate, which would eat away at time for lawmakers to consider other legislation or nominations.

In an effort to end the practice of long filibusters, when senators could use an unlimited amount of time to debate a bill, senators adopted a rule in 1917 to make it easier to invoke cloture and end debate on a bill with 67 votes. In 1975, that threshold was lowered to 60 votes.

Most of Alabama’s Republican candidates for U.S. Senate would support a talking filibuster to pass the voter ID bill, according to comments shared with Alabama Daily News. While Rep. Barry Moore, R-Enterprise, would support nuking the filibuster completely.

All of the state’s GOP Senate hopefuls are staunchly behind the SAVE America Act. The measure would require voters to show proof of citizenship, like a passport or birth certificate, when registering to vote and have a photo ID at the polls. The bill passed the House earlier this month with just one Democrat voting with Republicans to approve it.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall supports reinstating the talking filibuster “not just for the Save Act but as the practical implementation of the filibuster rule.”

“Democrats shouldn’t be able to block legislation with a sheet of paper,” a spokesperson for Marshall told ADN.

But Marshall stops short of calling for a complete repeal of the filibuster in the Senate.

“…it would have drastic ramifications for when/if the Democrats are in the majority again. Senate Republicans were able to block a number of very harmful and dangerous policies during the Obama and Biden Administrations including the Green New Deal, codifying Roe and packing the Supreme Court,” the spokesperson said.

Jared Hudson, the former Navy SEAL running for Tuberville’s seat, said he supports ending the “silent filibuster” so that senators have to “stand on the floor and defend their position.”

“If Democrat senators want to block the SAVE America Act, they should have to publicly explain why they’re standing in the way of safeguarding American elections,” Hudson told ADN in a statement.

“The American people deserve better than political games. They deserve leaders who will fight to protect their vote and the integrity of our elections, and I’ll never back down from that fight.”

Hudson, who has posted multiple social media messages encouraging the Senate to consider the GOP elections measure, added that his support for the legislation hinged on “protecting the integrity of our elections.”

Former Tuberville adviser and Trump administration official Morgan Murphy takes his support for the “talking filibuster” stance even further. He argues that “every filibuster should be a talking filibuster,” with senators who oppose a bill required to come to the floor and vocally express their opposition to legislation. He said the legislative procedure needs to return to its “debating roots.”

“So if Republicans in the Senate cannot pass the SAVE America Act to ensure our election security, it demonstrates how Washington is governed—not by the people—but by special interests and greed,” Murphy told ADN in a statement. “We cannot let our republic be overrun by a party that seeks power through election fraud and illegitimate voters.”

In a social media post earlier this month, President Donald Trump reiterated his desire to overhaul the 60-vote threshold to pass the SAVE America Act “one way or the other” even if it meant doing so via “a Talking Filibuster, à la “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”

Moore has taken a more hardline approach, siding with conservatives like Tuberville, who support completely getting rid of the filibuster to pass party-line legislation.

“If Senate Democrats block (the SAVE America Act), Republicans should end the filibuster and pass President Trump’s agenda,” Moore said in a statement to ADN.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has not committed to using the talking filibuster to help pass the elections bill. He has acknowledged to NBC News the challenges that using the practice would bring to daily legislative activity, like bringing much of the Senate’s business to a halt.

But with the Department of Homeland Security shutdown entering its second week, the voter ID measure isn’t expected to make it on the Senate calendar yet.

Democrats and voting rights groups remain strongly opposed to the voter ID bill, arguing it will disenfranchise millions of American voters.