WASHINGTON — A group of House conservatives derailed a must-pass defense bill Tuesday, forcing Republican leadership to scrap votes for the rest of the week over a stalled GOP elections overhaul measure.
Lawmakers will begin their July 4 recess early and will return on July 13 as the chamber remains at a standstill due to Republican infighting over President Donald Trump’s top legislative priority, the SAVE America Act.
Fourteen Republicans ground the chamber to a halt Tuesday, joining all Democrats to oppose a procedural step to open debate on the National Defense Authorization Act this week. The annual defense legislation, led by House Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers, R-Saks, establishes Pentagon policy.
The procedural vote failed 198-224. Alabama’s delegation split along party lines.
The SAVE America Act, which requires documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote and ID shown at polls in federal elections, has repeatedly upended the Republican legislative agenda, and much of the House’s work has been frozen since a GOP rebellion began last week.
Though he supports the election bill, U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Birmingham, said freezing the floor is not the right tactic.
“We can’t get out of our own way sometimes,” he told Alabama Daily News.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La, added the election reform measure to the rule that would unlock NDAA debate and allow the SAVE America Act to merge with the defense measure after it passed the House.
But that move was not enough to quell the anger of a bloc of Republicans who are determined to get the voter ID bill to Trump’s desk.
Some of the Republicans who voted against the procedural step argue that the SAVE America Act needs to be added to the base text of the bill to prevent the Senate from stripping out the language. But there aren’t enough votes in the Senate to pass the election legislation, no matter how it’s added.
“This is fundamental in securing our elections and it has to do with national security, so I’m not bending on it,” U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fl., a key defector, told reporters.
In response to the Republican “no” votes, Rogers expressed his frustration over the standstill to a reporter at Punchbowl News.
“I have no clue how the leadership is going to deal with those rascals, but it’s on everything,” he told the outlet. “Everything we try to do around here, the same handful of people do the same stunt.”
All Alabama Republicans voted for the procedural step, arguing that adding the SAVE America Act to the NDAA after it passes is a sufficient step to advance both important bills.
“I think it would be a good idea,” U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, R-Enterprise, told Alabama Daily News. “Obviously, it’s something the American people want. So I think we need to do what we can to try (and) actually represent the American people.”
U.S. Rep. Dale Strong, R-Huntsville, told ADN the defense policy bill and SAVE America Act go hand in hand.
“This is all in conjunction,” he said. “I think they pair well together.”
Democrats have remained steadfastly opposed to the SAVE America Act. Even though some Democrats could support the NDAA in a final vote, they were united in voting against the rule, which usually splits the House on party lines.
On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, railed against the election bill before the failed procedural vote.
“It is a voter suppression bill designed to block millions of eligible voters from casting their ballots,” the Selma native said on the House floor.
She added that about 72% of Alabamians don’t have access to a passport, one of the documents that could be used to show proof of citizenship under the SAVE America Act.
The Senate plans to consider its own version of the NDAA and negotiate with the House over the final defense policy bill, but any language trying to add the election bill to the defense legislation will likely fail in the upper chamber due to the filibuster.