The House floor remained effectively shut down on Tuesday as more than a dozen conservative members continued their blockade over the stalled SAVE America Act.
The holdouts, including Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, blocked a procedural vote, freezing legislative business after GOP leaders postponed several votes the previous week.
Lawmakers voted 198‑224 against advancing a bundle of items, including a must‑pass defense bill tied to the SAVE America Act, with fourteen Republicans voting “no.”
With such narrow margins, Speaker Mike Johnson cannot afford additional defections as he seeks to move key priorities before the July 4 recess.
The rebels persisted despite criticism from the president, who called their actions grandstanding, and from the speaker, who labeled the tactics self‑defeating.
Johnson told reporters the chamber must move forward with legislation and described a tense conversation with Luna and other holdouts shortly before the failed vote.
In an effort to appease hardliners, Johnson employed a rare procedural maneuver to revive the election measure backed by the president, which has stalled in the Senate.
GOP leaders proposed attaching the SAVE America Act to the National Defense Authorization Act, hoping a traditionally bipartisan defense bill would improve its chances in the upper chamber.
Johnson argued that pairing the measure with a bipartisan bill could persuade Senate Democrats to support it.
The holdouts demanded that the election measure be attached as an amendment to the defense bill, warning it would be removed otherwise.
Luna emphasized that without the amendment the provision would likely be stripped, and she framed the protest as part of legislating rather than obstruction.
The Senate is also drafting its own version of the defense bill that omits the election measure.
The procedural vote did advance FY 2027 funding for the State Department and foreign operations, along with a commemorative measure marking a year since a major legislative initiative.
Some conservatives, including Rep. Chip Roy, threatened to withhold support on a stalled border‑security package they want to bring to a chamber‑wide vote.
Johnson promised a vote before the July 4 recess, but the deadline is likely to pass without a floor vote, and the bill text remains unreleased.
Majority Leader Steve Scalise said consensus is lacking and must be achieved before the House can move forward.
