Speaker Mike Johnson is refusing to let his pet election bill die. On Sunday, the Louisiana Republican announced plans to shove the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act through Congress yet again. This time, he is using a budget reconciliation bill to bypass the usual Senate roadblocks.
It is a high-stakes gamble. Johnson told Fox News host Shannon Bream that both he and Donald Trump view the legislation as a paramount priority. The House has already rubber-stamped the bill three times. Now, Johnson believes wrapping it in a fast-track budget package is the only viable path to the president’s desk.
Trump wants more. The former president has floated bans on mail-in voting, but Johnson is keeping his focus narrow. He wants to zero in on the core elements: requiring proof of citizenship during voter registration and mandatory photo ID at the ballot box. According to Johnson, this is the silver bullet that wipes out election fraud, especially in blue states.
Not everyone in his party is playing nice. Representative Anna Paulina Luna recently threw a wrench in House proceedings, threatening to block routine votes unless leadership attached the SAVE Act to must-pass legislation. She made it clear on social media that she did not care who she angered in the process. Johnson, however, brushed off the internal drama. He insisted there is no bad blood, calling Luna a friend and a team player who simply wants the same result.
Luna wants the bill tacked onto the defense budget or spy agency funding. Johnson is sticking to the reconciliation route. He knows the math. With only 53 Republicans in the Senate, getting the 60 votes needed to break a Democratic filibuster is a fantasy. He openly accused Democrats of opposing the bill because they rely on loose voting rules to win elections.
Democrats see it differently. They have blasted the SAVE Act as a modern-day Jim Crow law designed to suppress minority, female, and student voters. Even some Republicans are skeptical. Senator Thom Tillis recently dismissed the entire effort as political theater, pointing out that there is simply no time left to rewrite election laws before the next cycle.
