By The Washington Times (Politics) | Created at 2026-06-25 22:14:50 | Updated at 2026-06-25 23:44:57
3 hours ago
President Trump and some of his MAGA allies in the House are teaming up to effectively shut down Congress until the GOP’s election integrity bill makes it to his desk.
The tension over the Senate’s inability to pass the SAVE America Act exploded this week as Mr. Trump refused to sign a bipartisan housing bill without the election measure passing, and a band of House GOP rebels blocked the chamber from considering other legislation.
“This is the number one most important issue in the country. The American people want it, and we’re not budging until we get it,” said Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, Florida Republican.
The House-passed version of the SAVE America Act would require individuals to show proof of citizenship to register to vote and a photo ID to cast a ballot.
“We passed it three times. I don’t understand what the problem is,” Rep. David Joyce, Ohio Republican, said, noting his colleagues blocking the House from taking up other GOP priorities are “showboating.”
Amid the turmoil, both the Senate and House left Washington earlier than scheduled this week.
“This isn’t really newsworthy,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, told reporters as he left the Capitol on Thursday after having to cancel votes on several bills his chamber was scheduled to take up this week.
He was on his way to a meeting with Mr. Trump at the White House to figure out how to get things back on track, but played it off as a consensus-building effort that he must deal with every day, given Republicans’ historically small majority.
“We passed the SAVE Act three times in the House. We’ll do it again,” the speaker said. “We’re working on that, and I’m going to talk with the president about these issues and how to get the agenda moving again. And it’s going to be very productive.”
Several House Republicans voted against the bipartisan housing bill on Tuesday as part of a pledge they took to oppose any Senate-passed bills until the upper chamber gets the SAVE America Act to the president’s desk.
Mr. Trump decided to cancel the housing bill signing ceremony that had been scheduled for the next morning, saying Congress first needed to pass the “desperately needed SAVE America Act.”
The move came two weeks after he said he would not sign an extension of a foreign surveillance law without the election bill. That law, an authority the government uses to spy on foreign targets’ communications without a warrant in an effort to thwart terrorist attacks and drug trafficking, remains expired.
The president lunched with Senate Republicans at the Capitol on Wednesday and appealed for them to pass the SAVE America Act, either by blowing up the filibuster rule that requires 60 votes to end debate or using a talking filibuster to get around it.
GOP leaders and senators did not push back in the meeting, but most still maintain that neither of those is a feasible option, and that the president’s preferred version of the SAVE America Act does not have enough votes to pass with even a simple majority.
Mr. Trump has pushed to expand the House-passed bill with bans on universal mail-in voting, transgender “mutilation” surgeries on minors and biological men from playing in women’s sports.
The mail-in voting ban is opposed by some Republicans whose states use it, and does not have enough support to pass either chamber.
Mr. Johnson has been pitching the president and his conference on trying a different tactic to pass portions of the SAVE America Act through the filibuster-proof budget reconciliation package.
It would require a significant restructuring of the bill to comply with the Senate rules for that process, which mandate that any policy changes in a reconciliation bill must have a significant budget impact.
“We believe that if you create a grant program that ties it to reconciling the budget, and you allow blue states — if they come to their senses and they want to avail themselves of election integrity proposals and ideas and policies — they can draw down from a federal fund and use those,” he said. “We’re willing to invest heavily in that.”
Mr. Trump, asked Wednesday whether he would consider that compromise approach, said, “No, not really.”
The president views the election-related mandates as a “national emergency” needed to prevent Democrats from rigging the midterm elections.
Mr. Johnson does not even have the support of several House Republicans for the idea of transforming the SAVE America Act into a grant program.
“The blue states won’t opt into that. They will opt out if needed, and will not touch that grant money,” said Rep. Lauren Boebert, Colorado Republican.
Ms. Luna said she and the other Republicans blocking other legislation from moving want GOP leaders to attach the SAVE America Act to a must-pass bill, such as the annual defense authorization bill the House is supposed to take up next week.
That may not be enough for House Freedom Caucus members who are aiding in the blockade for additional reasons – namely forcing Mr. Johnson to follow through on his promises to hold votes on a border security package and a permanent central digital bank currency ban.
“We’re moving legislation that, frankly, isn’t worth it, like the housing bill or bloated other bills. Let’s move the stuff the American people want,” Texas GOP Rep. Chip Roy said.
