House GOP leaders break logjam after conservative revolt

Washington — The House on Tuesday finally broke an impasse that had stalled most legislative action on the floor as GOP holdouts sought to leverage their votes to force the Senate to act on President Trump's top priority, the SAVE America Act. 

The Senate's inability to pass the controversial voting and elections bill has frustrated Mr. Trump and hardliners in the House, who have held up other GOP priorities in response. The SAVE America Act would require proof of citizenship documentation to register to vote in federal elections and photo ID requirements to vote, among other restrictions.

Most holdouts relented on Tuesday, allowing a party-line procedural vote to move forward. The vote tees up debate and final votes on a handful of bills, including an annual appropriations bill to fund the State Department. House Speaker Mike Johnson plans to attach the SAVE America Act to that legislation before sending it to the Senate. 

Last month, hardliners blocked a similar plan from Johnson, which would have merged the elections bill with the annual defense policy bill, known as the National Defense Authorization Act, before it went to the Senate. 

GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, who has led the charge in the lower chamber for the SAVE America Act, said Monday that she would go along with Johnson's latest plan, as long as the elections bill is attached to "all the appropriation bills and all must-pass bills."

"If John Thune strips it out in the Senate that will be on him and the entire country should be watching what he does," she said. 

The House GOP's gambit to force the Senate to pass the elections bill is certain to be dead on arrival across the Capitol, where the SAVE America Act lacks even a simple majority of support. Since 2024, the House has passed three versions of the bill, and all have stalled in the upper chamber. 

Though Johnson appeased conservatives on the SAVE America Act, he also faced obstacles with members who are pushing for a vote on a border crackdown bill, which passed the House in 2023 but never got a vote in the Senate. 

GOP leaders held open the first vote of the day for about an hour as Johnson and hardliners engaged in a heated discussion on the floor as the speaker tried to shore up support on the subsequent vote that would unlock the gridlock.

House leaders have repeatedly had to cancel votes as they navigate a narrow majority, which gives more power to rank-and-file members to stall legislative business until their demands are met. The chaos has left the lower chamber with little time to work through other legislative priorities ahead of its five-week recess, which begins at the end of next week. 

"We have a dysfunctional House," GOP Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska said. "The Republicans are the minority in the House right now. We have about 10, 20 people who are potentially their own party. They maybe caucus with Republicans, but more often than not, they vote against Republicans."