A group of Republicans joined Democrats in defeating a procedural vote that would have allowed the House to merge the SAVE America Act with the annual defense policy bill.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The House rejected a procedural measure Tuesday that would have allowed lawmakers to debate a plan to attach the Safeguard America Voter Eligibility Act to the National Defense Authorization Act, escalating an internal Republican dispute over how to advance the election legislation.
The rule failed 198-224 after a group of Republicans opposed the measure, preventing the House from moving forward with Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan to combine the SAVE America Act with the annual defense policy bill through a process known as “MIRVing.”
The process would have merged separate pieces of legislation into one larger package before sending it to the Senate.
Republicans voting against the rule included Reps. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, Chip Roy of Texas, Victoria Spartz of Indiana, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Eric Burlison of Missouri, Randy Fine of Florida, Eli Crane of Arizona, Max Miller of Ohio, Andy Harris of Maryland, Mike Turner of Ohio, Keith Self of Texas and Lauren Boebert of Colorado.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise also voted no as a procedural maneuver, giving him the ability to offer a motion to reconsider the vote. That move could allow Republican leaders to bring the rule back after additional negotiations or changes.
The failed vote came after Luna introduced an amendment to attach the SAVE America Act to the NDAA and threatened to oppose all rules votes if the election bill was not added. The House Rules Committee followed Johnson’s plan to merge the two bills rather than placing the SAVE America Act language directly into the defense bill’s text.
Johnson told reporters after the vote that Republicans who opposed the rule had also blocked the SAVE America Act from advancing under the leadership plan.
“We had a handful of Republicans who voted against its advancement,” Johnson told reporters. “They also, as you know, as a consequence, voted against the SAVE America Act. I am very sad to tell you, because in the rule we would have had the merge, which means we merge together, literally, the SAVE America Act that we passed unanimously back in February, with the National Defense Authorization Act. Those two bills would have become one and been transmitted to the Senate in that way. So we’re going to work on this. We did a motion to recommit. Leader Scalise heroically put his name down as a bill on the rule, which means that he will have the right to bring it back up.”
Luna argued before and after the vote that Johnson’s approach would not protect the SAVE America Act because the Senate could easily remove the language from the final package. She said Republican leaders should allow an amendment placing voter ID and proof-of-citizenship language directly into the NDAA.
“The current plan being proposed by HOUSE GOP to “MIRV” NDAA + SAVE AMERICA is a procedural head fake,” Luna said on X. “This does not do anything but guarantee the Senate will EASILY TAKE OUT SAVE America from the NDAA. HOUSE GOP LEADERSHIP SHOULD allow an AMENDMENT to ATTACH VOTER ID + PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP or SAVE America to the ACTUAL TEXT of NDAA.”
After the vote, Luna said the election bill belongs in the defense package because she views it as tied to national security.
“I will vote for the rule if you allow my amendment for voter ID plus proof of citizenship to be placed into the text of the NDAA. They’re saying they won’t, so now you’re seeing what happened on the floor,” Luna told reporters.
Luna, Roy and other Republicans had threatened to oppose all Senate-originated legislation unless the SAVE America Act passed. A Wednesday rules vote was not held because of Luna and other holdouts, a source familiar previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
During a Rules Committee hearing Monday, Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., offered an amendment to remove language merging the SAVE America Act and NDAA. Republicans voted down that amendment.
The fight follows President Donald Trump’s decision to cancel a signing ceremony for the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act until the SAVE America Act passed. Trump has urged Senate Republicans to pass the measure by eliminating the filibuster or attaching it to other legislation.
Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky previously voted against attaching the SAVE America Act to the immigration enforcement reconciliation bill that Trump signed into law on June 10.
The failed House rule leaves both the NDAA and the SAVE America Act caught in a broader Republican strategy fight over whether to merge the election bill with must-pass legislation or insist on inserting its language directly into the defense package.
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