President Donald Trump is trying to quell a rebellion from House Republicans, admonishing them for going too far in support of a voter ID bill that is also one of Trump’s own priorities.
Their actions, which have tied up the House for most of the week, are only helping Democrats, the president said.
“House Republicans should unify, and stop voting down ‘Rules’ or, threatening to do so,” Trump posted on social media Thursday after a meeting at the White House with House Speaker Mike Johnson. “No more grandstanding, please!”
A group of conservatives pledged this week to grind the House floor to a halt until Senate Republicans pass the bill, known as the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of U.S. citizenship for federal voter registration. The package has been a priority of both Trump and conservatives on the Hill, but top Senate Republicans repeatedly point out that it doesn’t have enough votes to pass.
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The plea to the House conservatives was something of a reversal for Trump, who has himself repeatedly criticized Senate Republicans for not finding a way to advance the bill and refused to sign a bipartisan housing bill this week, partly over that failure.
Johnson told reporters in the Capitol after his meeting with Trump that the president wants Republicans to get back to their agenda.
“He wants to ensure that we stop the blockade in the House,” Johnson said. “Congress has work to do and that’s what we’re going to do. So we will be moving forward on all that.”
House conservatives have berated Senate Majority Leader John Thune for not putting the voter ID bill on the floor and forcing Senate Democrats into filibustering it. Senate Republican leaders have said that strategy could allow Democrats to bog down the Senate floor for weeks.
To break a filibuster Republicans, who have a 53-47 majority would need to win over some Democrats, who have lined up solidly against the legislation.
Senate Republicans have told Trump that they also don’t have the votes within the party to nuke the legislative filibuster, even as the president and his conservative allies lobby for it to move SAVE and other priorities. Ending the filibuster would allow bills to advance by a simple majority without any Democratic support.
This week, Johnson floated attaching the SAVE America Act to a third budget reconciliation package, which could pass with a simple majority. But Senate rules would likely limit attaching the full bill.
“We’re not interested in getting a watered-down version of this,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said at a Thursday press conference.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Florida), one of the leaders of the conservative rebellion this week, said on social media Thursday that she wants to attach the SAVE America Act to the National Defense Authorization Act, an annual must-pass piece of defense legislation. The House is set to vote on the defense measure next week.
The SAVE America Act has seen the Senate floor multiple times in different forms over the past year. Earlier this month, the bill failed to get a simple majority of votes in the Senate when Republicans tried to attach it to the GOP’s second reconciliation package. Four Republicans voted against the amendment.
The speaker summed up the back-and-forth over the issue after his meeting with the president: “Just another day at the office, this is the process.”
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