Senate Majority Leader John Thune told the White House to stop blaming Republicans for the stalled SAVE America Act — and instead tell the president's own team to whip the votes themselves, exposing yet another instance of GOP leadership shrugging off the agenda their voters sent them to deliver.

The SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo ID to cast a federal ballot, has been rejected twice in the Senate this year. The House squeezed its provisions into a $95 billion party-line reconciliation package Wednesday, passing it 216-214 with every Democrat opposed. Now the bill hits the Senate, where it faces the same wall: unified Democratic opposition and Republican defectors who refuse to fall in line.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that Trump's "patience is running out" and that he wants the legislation passed before the August recess. "The House did its job. The Senate needs to do its job, too," she told reporters, according to Fox News.

Thune's response was to point fingers right back. "Maybe she or somebody else ought to get on the phone and get the votes," he told reporters at the Capitol, according to the Daily Caller. "It's 50 around here. So instead of pointing the finger at Republicans, they might think about going after the people who are stopping it on the floor, which is the Democrats. And if there are Republicans that they think are gettable, get on the phone. Let's get them to yes."

The New York Times framed the clash as Trump and his "far-right allies" pressuring Thune — standard language for any Republican who wants election integrity. Fox News and the Daily Caller both noted the math problem: Democrats are united against it, and enough Republicans are skittish that the votes simply aren't there, even through the 50-vote reconciliation process.

At least one Republican senator is openly working against the bill. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, one of the most vocal opponents, told reporters that some Republicans were "being dishonest to the American people" about whether the SAVE Act could be implemented before the election, according to Fox News. When asked about Leavitt's criticism of Thune, Tillis dug in: "I have 1,000% confidence in Thune."

Trump, for his part, isn't letting the Senate off the hook. At a rally in Marietta, Georgia, on Wednesday, he told the crowd that "the Senate is a place you send things when you want them to die," according to the Daily Caller's account of his remarks. He urged supporters to call Thune and put pressure on senators to act.

Thune has been telegraphing his doubts for weeks. When House Speaker Mike Johnson said Congress would get the bill to Trump's desk before the August recess, Thune told reporters that was "news to him" on July 16, per the Daily Caller. "I have to be the realist," Thune said then. "I can't make any guarantees over here."

The realist, in this case, is the man paid to lead his conference — and is telling the White House to do his job for him. The question is whether Thune can't get to 50 votes or simply won't twist the arms of Republican holdouts like Tillis who would rather protect the Senate's bipartisan inertia than deliver on a core campaign promise. Either way, the people who sent them there are still waiting.