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With just over four months until November’s midterm elections, the House of Representatives is consumed by GOP infighting as President Donald Trump continues to push for the SAVE America Act.
A group of conservatives, led by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., has vowed to effectively block all legislation on the House floor until the Senate passes the stalled Trump-backed elections bill.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is racing to unlock the House floor and is set to meet with Trump at the White House Thursday afternoon in an effort to break the impasse.
At stake is whether House Republicans can advance government funding bills, a long-shot third party-line reconciliation package incorporating defense spending and fraud prevention safeguards, and the annual defense policy bill, among other priorities, before the chamber leaves for the August recess.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna departs the U.S. Capitol following a series of House votes on March 5, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
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Thursday’s meeting comes after House Republican leadership was forced to cancel a series of votes Wednesday after the conservative bloc declined to end its blockade.
“We’re not giving up on it yet, but we’re having contingencies in place,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told reporters.
Luna indicated she is not planning to relent anytime soon, despite having no apparent leverage to force the Senate to weaken the legislative filibuster or pass the SAVE America Act.
“The president’s been very clear,” Luna told Digital in an interview Wednesday. “He’s not playing these games anymore, and I’m going to fully back him, and I have the votes to do it.”
“There’s going to be no votes this week,” Luna added.
For months, Trump has stated that passing the SAVE America Act is at the top of his legislative agenda. But progress has not materialized as the legislation has failed to clear the Senate’s 60-vote threshold.
The House has yet to pass a version of the SAVE America Act that includes Trump-backed provisions that restrict mail-in voting, bar men from women’s sports and ban child sex change procedures.
Signaling his frustration with the bill’s stalled progress, Trump on Wednesday canceled a signing ceremony for a bipartisan housing bill the White House endorsed.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is scheduled to meet with President Trump at the White House Thursday afternoon as the House floor grinds to a halt. (Evan Vucci-Pool/Getty Images; Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
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Johnson, in a likely attempt to break the logjam, proposed incorporating a skinny version of the SAVE America Act into a third party-line package that House Republicans are currently negotiating. Johnson’s legislation would provide grant funding to states to encourage them to mandate federally verified REAL IDs when voting.
But Luna warned against passing a watered-down version of the elections bill.
“I want to warn the American people that you cannot get SAVE America Act on reconciliation,” Luna said, referring to another GOP-only megabill. “It’s not possible to be done, so we’re not drinking the Kool-Aid on that. Unless the Senate decides to fire the parliamentarian, nothing will change.”
House GOP fiscal hawks have also warned their support for a third reconciliation bill is contingent on including “dollar-for-dollar and year-for-year spending cuts” to offset the package’s deficit impact.
The Senate left Washington late Wednesday to begin a two-week recess, meaning the standoff is not expected to resolve anytime soon.
Members of the House Freedom Caucus issued a memo Wednesday stating their support for a third reconciliation bill hinges on the inclusion of “dollar-for-dollar” spending cuts, among other priorities. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
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No senators — including the SAVE America Act’s biggest proponents — objected to beginning the July 4 recess early.
“I will not be voting to reopen the floor until the Senate gets back to Washington,” Luna wrote on social media.
Digital reached out to the White House for comment.
