House GOP agenda stuck over SAVE Act, again

House GOP agenda stuck over SAVE Act, again

More than a dozen House Republicans tanked a procedural vote for the must-pass defense bill — once again over the GOP's signature election bill, the SAVE Act.

Why it matters: The SAVE Act has become a recurring source of chaos for House Republicans, repeatedly derailing procedural votes and stalling unrelated legislation.

  • The House has already passed the bill three times, but it's well short of the necessary votes in the Senate, where Democratic support is needed to pass it.
  • House conservatives have mounted a pressure campaign to force Senate Republicans to abolish the filibuster and pass the bill, but the effort has so far gained little traction in the chamber.
  • Just last week, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was forced to scrap votes and end the House's workweek early after conservatives made clear they would block legislation on the floor over the Senate's failure to act on SAVE.

    • Driving the news: Fourteen Republicans — Reps. Anna Paulina Luna (Fla.), Tim Burchett (Tenn.), Chip Roy (Texas), Thomas Massie (Ky.), Lauren Bobert (Colo.), Max Miller (Ohio), Victoria Spartz (Ind.), Eric Burlison (Mo.), Andy Harris (Md.), Eli Crane (Ariz.), Randy Fine (Fla.), Keith Self (Texas), Mike Turner (Ohio.) and Steve Scalise (La.) — voted against the rule for the National Defense Authorization Act because it doesn't include an amendment on the SAVE Act.

  • Scalise, the majority leader, voted against the rule to allow GOP leadership to more easily bring it back up at a later date.
  • The vote failed 198-224.

    • Zoom in: As a compromise, Johnson agreed to package the SAVE Act with the NDAA before sending it to the Senate. But the Senate could easily strip out the election measure before final passage.

  • The speaker has also floated including parts of the SAVE Act in a potential third reconciliation bill, another offramp conservatives have rejected as insufficient.
  • President Trump publicly urged House Republicans to stop tanking procedural votes last week, but conservatives have so far ignored that warning.

    • What's next: The path forward for passing the defense bill remains unclear, as does a mechanism for Johnson and his leadership team to move forward on other legislation they'd hoped to pass before the July 4 recess.