House Republicans on Wednesday made another attempt to answer Donald Trump’s demand for new restrictions on voting nationwide by linking the measure to an unrelated spending bill and passing both largely along party lines. The effort was the latest attempt by congressional Republicans to pass the Save America Act, which would ban mail-in ballots and impose new identification requirements on voters when they register and cast ballots.
While the Trump administration has cast the bill as necessary to prevent non-citizens from voting and combat election fraud, voting rights advocates say there’s no evidence of widespread election tampering and warn the bill could disenfranchise swaths of eligible voters ahead of November’s midterm elections. The House of Representatives approved a version of the bill in February, but it has no path to passing the Senate, where top Democrats oppose the measure and can wield the filibuster to halt its advancement.
Rightwing House Republicans have nonetheless insisted that their leaders make the bill a priority, and Speaker Mike Johnson agreed to a plan to combine the Save America Act with a bill authorizing spending by the state department and related agencies, which the House passed by a 217-209 vote on Wednesday afternoon. The Senate’s top Democrat Chuck Schumer vowed to again block the measure, as his party did when majority leader John Thune earlier this year opened debate on the Save America Act under pressure from Trump and his allies.
“I’ll say it as many times as it takes: the [Save America] Act is dead on arrival here in the Senate,” Schumer said ahead of the House vote. “I don’t care how Republicans try to package their plan to resurrect the old ghost of Jim Crow – we will kill it.”
Trump has repeatedly insisted that Congress’s Republican majorities approve the Save America Act, going as far as to disrupt the legislative agenda to underscore the seriousness of his demands. He has tied its passage to the renewal of a foreign surveillance law that expired last month, and refused to sign a federal housing policy bill that was approved with bipartisan support in protest of the lack of progress on Save America. The housing measure went into law last week without his signature.
Answering the president’s call, conservative House lawmakers late last month effectively shut down the chamber’s floor by opposing procedural motions that must pass before legislation can be voted on. They relented earlier this week, backing Johnson’s plan to link Save America to appropriations measures, which authorizes spending by federal agencies, and usually pass with bipartisan support. That process is set to be disrupted if Republicans press on with attaching the Save America Act to such legislation, raising the possibility of a government shutdown later this year.
Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican who led the blockade of the House floor, sought to channel the blame to Thune if Save America fails again. “If John Thune strips it out in the Senate that will be on him and the entire country should be watching what he does,” Luna said. “His state party should censure him and/or he should be primaried if he wants to betray his constituents in this manner. That is the nature of politics.”
The SAVE Act is back at the center of Washington’s election debate after Republicans renewed efforts to advance the legislation despite its struggles in the Senate. The proposal, which would require proof of citizenship for voter registration and impose voter identification requirements in federal elections, has gained new attention as GOP leaders explore attaching it to other legislation and President Donald Trump continues pushing for its passage.
For many Americans, the biggest question now is no longer what or how the SAVE Act impacts voters. Rather, it’s whether Republican lawmakers can find a path to make it law before the 2026 midterm elections. House conservatives recently ended a legislative blockade after receiving commitments tied to advancing the SAVE Act, and Speaker Mike Johnson has discussed pairing the proposal with other legislative vehicles.
The SAVE Act passed the House, and remains stalled in the Senate after numerous failed votes. However, the bill gained new momentum this week when Speaker Mike Johnson agreed to attach it to a fiscal 2027 State Department spending package, marking the latest Republican effort to advance the voter ID measure before the 2026 midterm elections. The proposal would also establish voter identification requirements and require states to take additional steps to ensure only eligible citizens are registered.
Supporters say the legislation would strengthen election integrity and prevent noncitizen voting, while critics argue existing safeguards already prohibit noncitizen voting and warn the proposal could create new hurdles for some eligible voters. Republican leaders have explored linking the SAVE Act to larger pieces of legislation, including appropriations measures. Johnson has also discussed reconciliation as a possible pathway because it could allow the Senate to approve legislation with a simple majority rather than the 60 votes typically required to overcome a filibuster.
Trump has repeatedly called for passage of the legislation and recently criticized Congress over its lack of progress. He even cited the Senate’s failure to pass the SAVE America Act while announcing he would allow a bipartisan housing measure to become law without his signature. The president has described election integrity as a top priority and has continued to pressure lawmakers to advance the bill.
The answer remains unclear. While the House has repeatedly approved versions of the legislation, the Senate has been the major obstacle. Republicans hold a Senate majority but may still face challenges securing enough support under normal Senate rules. That’s why much of the current discussion centers on alternative legislative strategies. As Congress debates spending bills and other priorities, the SAVE Act’s future could become one of the most closely watched election-related stories heading into the 2026 midterms.
