Overview
- House Rules Committee approved an 8-4 rule that would let Speaker Mike Johnson attach the SAVE America Act to the $1.1–$1.15 trillion NDAA and send both measures to the Senate.
- The MIRV maneuver would merge the House-passed SAVE bill onto the defense bill without a new House vote on SAVE, effectively forcing the Senate to consider the election provisions.
- Conservative holdouts led by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna oppose the tactic and have threatened to sink procedural rules or jam the floor if their voter ID amendments are not made an order.
- Republican leaders acknowledge the SAVE Act lacks the 60 votes to survive a Senate filibuster and expect the upper chamber would likely strip controversial election language from any NDAA package.
- The fight, which intensified with Monday's Rules Committee action, risks delaying the NDAA and other must-pass items, could extend the House blockade, and would shift the dispute to Senate floor strategy and negotiations.