John Thune

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt made President Donald Trump’s frustrations clear with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.).

During her press briefing Thursday, Leavitt revealed that Trump’s “patience is running out” with Thune over the Senate GOP’s delay in advancing the SAVE America Act, the president’s sweeping federal voting bill.

Thune fired back minutes later, telling reporters: “Well, maybe she or somebody else ought to get on the phone and get the votes, right?”

The SAVE America Act, repeatedly championed by Trump and his administration, would reshape U.S. elections by requiring voter ID at the polls and proof of citizenship to register to vote. The bill also includes a ban on transgender athletes in women’s sports and a prohibition on gender-affirming medical care for children.

Leavitt pointed to the president’s harsh remarks against the Senate during a campaign-style rally in Georgia on Wednesday — and floated the start of the August recess as the president’s deadline to pass elements of the legislation.

“He knows that’s what the American people want to see passed,” Leavitt told reporters.

While speaking to the crowd in Marietta, Trump praised House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), appearing to reference how the House muscled through the measure already in February.

The lower chamber separately passed a $95 billion GOP-backed reconciliation framework on Wednesday that features parts of the SAVE America Act, including $10 billion for states to implement voter ID laws and the proof-of-citizenship requirement, to work around the impasse.

“We’re having a hard time in the Senate,” Trump said. “The Senate, what they’re doing, is just not right... it’s like the Senate is a place that you send things when you want them to die.”

“We can’t do this, and we’re not going to take this any longer,” the president added. “We’re not going to take it. You know, I’m trying to be nice.”

Trump, at one point, went on to encourage the audience to call Thune and “tell him to get this stuff approved.”

With the legislation stagnant, the president has frequently called on Senate Republicans to eliminate the filibuster — the 60-vote threshold needed for most legislation — in order to get the bill passed.

But Thune has continued to maintain that the upper chamber does not have the votes to bypass it.

The president, however, has argued that Democrats would eradicate the procedural rule if they take control of Congress come November. He did the same during his speech in Georgia, claiming that they would also seek to admit new states to the U.S.

“If they are allowed to do that, by that time I’ll be sitting home,” Trump said. “And I’m not a big crier. I don’t think you wanna see me cry, you know? There are some people they do very well when they cry, but you don’t wanna see me cry.”