House Votes Against Advancing NDAA Even With The SAVE America Act Attached

The House of Representatives voted against a procedural vote that would allowed debate on attaching the Safeguard America Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in a Tuesday vote.

Lawmakers voted on a procedural rule that would have enabled debate on attaching the SAVE America Act through a special process called “MIRVing,” where lawmakers attach unrelated bills into a single massive package. The rule failed in a 198-224 vote, with Republican Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, Chip Roy of Texas, Victoria Spartz of Indiana, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Eric Burlison of Missouri, Randy Fine of Florida, Eli Crane of Arizona, Max Miller of Ohio, Andy Harris of Maryland, Mike Turner of Ohio, Keith Self of Texas and Lauren Boebert of Colorado voting against it.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise voted “no” as a procedural move to offer a motion to reconsider the vote. Scalise’s procedural vote could allow the vote to be taken up again, which usually happens after more negotiations or adjustments.

Luna introduced an amendment to attach the SAVE America to the NDAA, threatening to shut down all rules votes if the SAVE Act was not attached. The House Rules Committee followed Speaker Mike Johnson’s MIRVing plan.

Johnson said during a press gaggle that these Republicans voted against the SAVE America Act by rejecting the rule.

“We had a handful of Republicans who voted against its advancement,” Johnson told reporters. “They also, as you know, as a consequence, voted against the SAVE America Act. I am very sad to tell you, because in the rule we would have had the merge, which means we merge together, literally, the SAVE America Act that we passed unanimously back in February, with the National Defense Authorization Act. Those two bills would have become one and been transmitted to the Senate in that way. So we’re going to work on this. We did a motion to recommit. Leader Scalise heroically put his name down as a bill on the rule, which means that he will have the right to bring it back up.”

Luna expressed dissatisfaction with Johnson’s plan, arguing the Senate would strip the SAVE America Act out of the package. She argued the only option was to add the SAVE America Act language directly into the NDAA’s text.

“The current plan being proposed by HOUSE GOP to “MIRV” NDAA + SAVE AMERICA is a procedural head fake,” Luna said on X. “This does not do anything but guarantee the Senate will EASILY TAKE OUT SAVE America from the NDAA. HOUSE GOP LEADERSHIP SHOULD allow an AMENDMENT to ATTACH VOTER ID + PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP or SAVE America to the ACTUAL TEXT of NDAA.”

The current plan being proposed by HOUSE GOP to “MIRV” NDAA + SAVE AMERICA is a procedural head fake. This does not do anything but guarantee the Senate will EASILY TAKE OUT SAVE America from the NDAA.

HOUSE GOP LEADERSHIP SHOULD allow an AMENDMENT to ATTACH VOTER ID + PROOF OF…

— Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) June 30, 2026

After the vote, Luna said the SAVE America Act is related to national security and should be added to the NDAA.

“I will vote for the rule if you allow my amendment for voter ID plus proof of citizenship to be placed into the text of the NDAA. They’re saying they won’t, so now you’re seeing what happened on the floor,” Luna told reporters.

Luna, Roy and others threatened to vote against all legislation put forth by the Senate unless the SAVE America Act passed. A rules vote scheduled for Wednesday did not happen because of Luna and other holdouts, a source familiar previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Democratic Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern introduced an amendment during the Rules Committee hearing Monday to strike out language in the rule merging the SAVE America Act and NDAA. Republicans voted down his amendment.

President Donald Trump cancelled the signing ceremony for the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act until the SAVE America Act passed. He pressured Senate Republicans to pass the SAVE America Act by eliminating the filibuster or attaching it to other legislation. Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky voted against attaching it to the immigration enforcement reconciliation bill that Trump signed into law on June 10.