Speaker Johnson: Continue House Agenda While Pushing SAVE America Act

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., urged Republican lawmakers Monday not to block House business as they press the Senate to pass the SAVE America Act, calling that strategy "self-defeating."

"To my colleagues, whomever is thinking that stopping the work of House Republicans to make Americans safer right now and to bring down the cost of living, impeding that progress just because stubborn Senate Democrats won't do the job of the American people is self-defeating," Johnson told reporters. "It doesn't make any sense."

The Hill reported that Johnson's comments came after House conservatives blocked unrelated legislation last week to pressure the Senate to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship for voter registration and voter identification to cast a ballot.

The dispute is now threatening House consideration of the annual National Defense Authorization Act.

Johnson said he spent several hours at the White House on Monday discussing legislative strategy with President Donald Trump.

Last week, Trump canceled a planned signing ceremony for a bipartisan housing bill over his frustration with the Senate's handling of the SAVE America Act.

After later meeting with Johnson, Trump urged House Republicans on Truth Social to stop "grandstanding," "unify," and stop voting against procedural rules that delay House business.

Johnson said the House has already approved the SAVE America Act three times and intends to pass it again.

He argued the most realistic path to enactment is through a budget reconciliation bill, which can pass the Senate with a simple majority instead of the 60 votes typically needed to overcome a filibuster.

"Remember, we passed it three times in the House, and we intend to pass it again," Johnson said. "But the only way to get that to the president's desk, we've been shown many times, is to put it on a reconciliation bill. So that is in process.

"We have a plan to do that, to tie it to reconcile the budget, which should clearly pass the Byrd Rule, the Byrd test over there."

The Byrd Rule generally limits reconciliation bills to provisions directly affecting federal spending or revenues.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., who has led the effort to withhold support for House procedural votes until the Senate acts on the SAVE America Act, rejected Johnson's proposal.

"This cannot be done. It is impossible. It will not pass the Byrd bath. I have amendments that should be made in order," Luna wrote on X.