Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), the chairman of the Senate Steering Committee, is circulating a plan among Senate Republicans to avoid another government shutdown later this year so that they can discuss it when President Trump meets with GOP senators Wednesday.

Scott, who invited Trump to lunch in the Capitol, says Democrats are unlikely to help pass any of the 12 annual spending bills before the Sept. 30 deadline. He’s pressing colleagues to rally around a plan to pass a continuing resolution to keep funding levels frozen and avoid a third government shutdown in the 119th Congress.

He says GOP colleagues should focus on avoiding a government shutdown and passing the SAVE America Act, a bill that would require people to show documented proof of citizenship when registering to vote, as their top two priorities for the rest of this year.

“I hope we can continue to have robust conversations as a conference this week as to how we should spend our time between now and the November elections. President Trump is scheduled to be at our Wednesday lunch. I hope everyone will be vocal as to what they think is the best path forward, but here is mine,” Scott wrote in his letter, which circulated on Monday.

He said Republicans should work on passing a clean stopgap funding measure to keep the government funded through the November midterm election.

“We need to make it clear to all Americans that Democrats want to shut down government and don’t care how it impacts federal workers or the economy and Republicans want to fund the government,” he wrote.

And he argued that Republicans should make another effort to pass the SAVE America Act or at least portions of it, such as a requirement that voters show photo identification.

“We need to make it clear Republicans want election security and Democrats want fraud,” he said.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) says Democrats support voter identification requirements, though they voted against an amendment sponsored by Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) earlier this year to implement such a reform.

Scott is also urging Republicans to pass one of two pieces of legislation to shield workers from the effects of a government shutdown: the Shutdown Fairness Act, sponsored by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), to pay federal workers to perform essential work during a government shutdown, or the Prevent Government Shutdowns Act of 2025, sponsored by Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), to provide for continuing appropriations to prevent a government shutdown.

Lankford’s bill would limit official travel and congressional recesses during a shutdown or partial shutdown.

“We need to make a clear distinction as to who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. We have to demonstrate what Republicans stand for and what Democrats stand for through action, not rhetoric,” Scott wrote, anticipating another government shutdown standoff in the fall.

He asserted that Democrats “have been clear that they want to shut down government on October 1st because they believe that is their path to a majority in November.”

Schumer last week accused Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) of refusing to sit down with Democrats to negotiate a top-line spending limit for the annual appropriations bills.

Collins has denied that charge, and called Schumer “misinformed” on the state of the talks.

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