House Republicans are turning to budget reconciliation in a last-ditch attempt to enact major pieces of the SAVE America Act before the November midterms. The plan would lower the Senate passage threshold from 60 votes to a simple majority for provisions that survive the chamber’s budget rules. Republican leaders want to use the process to require proof of citizenship during voter registration and photo identification at the polls. Their challenge is getting the provisions past both Senate holdouts and the parliamentarian.
The election-integrity package has repeatedly cleared the House but remains stalled in the Senate, where Majority Leader John Thune has not brought it up for an expected failed vote. Republicans lack the Democratic support needed to break a filibuster under normal Senate procedure. Speaker Mike Johnson and House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil are now trying to move the bill’s central requirements through a separate reconciliation package.
Steil’s committee has jurisdiction over federal election law and would be responsible for writing the election provisions. The Wisconsin Republican said the House can move as quickly as the Senate permits, but acknowledged that lawmakers are running out of time before voters head to the polls. He also said he believes 50 senators would support at least some of the proposed changes.
“I’d rather pass the SAVE America Act,” Steil told Fox News Digital, according to a report from Trending Politics. “But recognizing that the Senate might not be able to get that done with the 60-vote threshold, let’s leverage the parliamentary procedure, bring that threshold down to 50, and get some really commonsense reforms done.” Steil added that he’s been speaking with members of the Trump administration and Senate Republicans about the strategy.
Reconciliation allows qualifying budget legislation to avoid a filibuster and pass the Senate with a simple majority. Both chambers must first approve budget instructions, after which the relevant committees write their portions of the package. The House and Senate must then pass identical versions before the bill can reach President Donald Trump’s desk.
The harder test will be whether the Senate parliamentarian agrees that the election provisions comply with reconciliation rules. Provisions considered extraneous under the Byrd Rule can face edits that require 60 votes to waive. Steil argues that Congress can connect the election rules to federal money sent to states under the Help America Vote Act. He suggested freeing or increasing funds for post-election audits and said the same mechanism could be used for photo identification.
Watch Steil explain the Republican plan here:
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Steil also floated REAL ID as a possible vehicle for the citizenship requirement. “Effectively, when an individual gets REAL ID, they’re proving their citizenship,” he said. The administration is backing the reconciliation push, according to Steil, who said, “The White House is engaged. We’ve had good conversations.”
The House approved a $95 billion reconciliation bill earlier this summer covering military resources and election security. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Ron Johnson unveiled a Senate framework allowing up to $150 billion in spending before the August recess, but it has yet to advance. Those competing totals must be reconciled, and adding more committees or policy provisions could slow a process already pressed against the election calendar.
Johnson said Republicans deliberately kept the House package narrow so it could move quickly, but argued that waiting is no longer an option. “We’re very close to an election, the stakes are very high, the timing is short, and if you’re going to do election integrity measures, you need to do it, like, yesterday,” the speaker said. “We passed the SAVE America Act four times in the House. This is the last best effort to get it through the Senate, so I’m for doing it as quickly as possible.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video.