Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) is threatening to “shut down” the House over an election bill Senate Republicans have yet to vote on, presenting Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) with yet another headache caused by his own party.
Luna, who has repeatedly used Republicans’ narrow House majority to extract concessions from leadership, announced on X Friday that she has enough members to grind floor business to a halt over legislation that mandates voters verify their citizenship status before casting a ballot in elections. The bill, known as the SAVE Act, already passed the House in April, but Luna and other Republicans have grown impatient with the lack of action in the Senate.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) told the Washington Examiner on Friday that he would join Luna in protest of the Senate, with the pair demanding that its leadership hold or schedule a vote by the time the House returns from a recess at the beginning of February.
“We are not going to play games — especially given that half of the Republicans in both the House and Senate are concerned about their reelection and want the floor open for their messaging bills,” Luna said.
“They are not allowed to hide behind the president and his agenda while knifing the American people in the back,” she added. “They need legislation for their elections, so they MUST pass the SAVE Act. Election integrity is the most important issue in this country for the future of our nation.”
The House is out on recess next week and returns to Washington on Feb. 2.
House rebels have repeatedly hijacked the floor since Johnson became speaker, and they stand a good chance of succeeding if they follow through on their threats. As of now, leadership can only afford to lose two Republicans on any party-line vote.
The decision to use that threat to make demands of the Senate, however, is unusual given that the chambers typically act independently of each other. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), the lead sponsor of the SAVE Act, told the Washington Examiner on Friday that he’s spoken to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) “many times” about giving his legislation a floor vote, but that he has not been able to receive a commitment.
The SAVE Act has substantial backing among Senate Republicans, with 35 co-sponsoring Lee’s bill to date. However, Democrats oppose the legislation, arguing it presents an obstacle to voting meant to suppress the vote.
As a result, more conservative members of the House want to see the filibuster abolished altogether to sidestep that opposition. On Tuesday, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), the SAVE Act’s lead co-sponsor in the House, accused Senate Republicans of lacking the “willpower” to pass election legislation.
It is not clear, though, that enough Republicans support the bill for it to pass the Senate even with a simple majority. Thune presently controls the chamber by a three-vote margin.
When the Senate returns next week, it will vote on the Pregnant Students’ Rights Act, a bill timed to loosely coincide with the annual March for Life in Washington. Leadership will then spend the rest of the week attempting to pass a set of six government funding bills before a Jan. 30 deadline.
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The impasse over the SAVE Act comes as House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) is working with Roy to release a modified version of the bill that would also tack on photo ID requirements.
“We’re going to be bringing a bill that does both, the SAVE Act combined with picture ID, and that’s an even stronger measure — and send that to the Senate, and I hope we get that vote on the Senate floor,” Scalise told reporters on Tuesday.
Rachel Schilke contributed to this report.