House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) regained control of the House floor after a weeks-long battle with a group of GOP hard-liners.
The House voted 215-211 for a procedural rules package that will unlock the House floor this week, allowing GOP leadership to move forward with plans to vote on an appropriations bill and other legislative priorities.
Only one Republican, Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) voted no, joining all Democrats to oppose advancing the rule package to unlock the floor.
Johnson was forced to cancel votes two weeks in a row back in June after several Republicans threatened to sink procedural votes until President Donald Trump’s border policies are codified into law and the Senate passes the SAVE America Act, which has already passed in the House.
On June 30, 13 Republicans followed through on those threats, sinking the procedural measure put on the floor by leadership and upending plans to pass several must-pass pieces of legislation ahead of the House’s July 4 recess.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) led the faction of Republicans demanding passage of the SAVE America Act, which requires voter ID to cast a ballot and proof of citizenship to register to vote nationwide.
Luna announced on Monday that she would end her opposition on the floor and support Johnson’s strategy to merge the SAVE America Act with the National Security and State appropriations bill upon passage in the House.
However, the Florida congresswoman noted her support was “on the condition that Speaker Johnson attaches the SAVE America Act to all the appropriation bills and all must-pass bills here in the House and ensures it is sent to the Senate as one bill.”
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Luna’s support for reopening the floor came after heavy lobbying from leadership, who inserted language into the rule package to attach the voter ID bill to the appropriations bill using a process known as “MIRV” and included a measure to make daylight saving time permanent, a top priority for Florida Republicans.
With the passage of the procedural measure, Republican leadership can turn its full attention to passing a third party-line spending bill. Johnson told reporters Tuesday morning that Republicans hope to mark up the budget resolution for the reconciliation bill on Thursday.