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It’s never easy to get a spending bill through Congress, and this week was no different. Despite having a compromise package that had already passed the Senate in a bipartisan vote, the House still struggled to get the bill through this week — and it took lots of arm twisting and last-minute negotiations to do it.
And somehow, Sen. Mike Lee was at the center of it all — despite not even being part of the House of Representatives.
That’s because of Lee’s SAVE Act, now SAVE America Act, proposing to add stricter requirements — including proof of citizenship — to vote in federal elections. The legislation has been around for a couple of years now, and it’s even passed the House a handful of times.
But it’s never gotten a vote in the Senate, where it would need 60 votes to overcome the filibuster, meaning at least seven Democrats would need to join Republicans to advance it. Spoiler alert: They aren’t interested in that.
That’s frustrated Lee over the past few months, prompting him to launch an online pressure campaign to use alternative filibuster rules to pass the legislation.
But that campaign really picked up steam when a handful of House Republicans threatened to vote against the latest spending package to reopen the government unless the Senate scheduled a vote on Lee’s bill. Keep in mind, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., can only afford to lose one Republican on any given vote.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., led the charge — posting several times on social media that she would shut down the House floor until the SAVE Act was considered in the Senate. Other Republicans like Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., said they would do the same.
Since then, the SAVE Act has soared in terms of public interest. It’s been one of the top researched bills, according to Congress.gov, and almost every Republican senator has signed on as a co-sponsor. (Eighteen of those signed on in January alone.)
Luna did eventually get on board with voting in favor of the shutdown-ending spending package after she went to the White House for a meeting on Monday evening. During that meeting, Luna said she was given “assurances” from the White House to get a vote on the SAVE Act through the standing filibuster — exactly the thing that Lee has been asking for.
Only problem with that: No one else seemed to be privy to that promise.
In fact, some Republicans I spoke to who have been deeply involved with the SAVE Act negotiations told me that announcement from Luna came as a shock to them — and that they knew a decision on using alternative filibuster rules had not yet been made by Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
“We’ve got some members, as you know, who expressed an interest in that, so we’re going to have a conversation about it,” Thune said, telling reporters this week a decision had not been made.
Luna said that her conversations were with the White House, and not Thune, so she believes a deal is still in play. Either way, Luna voted to advance the funding package.
But that didn’t stop some Republicans from threatening to tank the bill on the House floor this week — including Rep. John Rose of Tennessee, who had to be cornered by GOP leadership for more than 30 minutes to change his vote. His initial “no” vote was an act of protest to get the SAVE Act passed in the Senate, he explained. But he did eventually flip his vote so the package could pass.
Lee, for his part, told me he was “elated” to see so much enthusiasm over his election security bill.
“We’ve got people on both ends of the Capitol expressing support for it and even exploring the rules of the other chamber,” Lee said. “That’s been encouraging.”
Catch up more here and here from my reporting this week on the issue. Bottom line: Don’t expect this to go away — we’re likely to see more action, and perhaps drama, on the SAVE Act in the coming weeks.
In fact, the latest iteration of the SAVE Act — now called the SAVE America Act, a new name encouraged by President Donald Trump — is set up for a vote in the House next week. Will it get a vote in the Senate?
Stories Driving the Week
- Shutdown is over: President Donald Trump signed the $1.2 trillion spending package to reopen the government and temporarily fund the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday, ending the four-day partial shutdown. Now, Congress has just 10 days to negotiate the DHS portion.
- Heading for the exits: About 50% of chief local election officials in Western states left their jobs between November 2020 and November 2025, often in the middle of their tenure, according to a new analysis by Issue One, a nonprofit political advocacy organization. That number was especially high in Utah, which ranked fourth of the 11 Western states included in the study.
- Money money money: Former Rep. Ben McAdams raised the most money last year compared to other Democratic candidates running in Utah’s newly redrawn 1st Congressional District, according to campaign finance records filed with the Federal Election Commission last month.
ICE negotiations have begun. But no one knows who to talk to
Lawmakers have just a week to get some sort of spending deal through Congress before funding for the Department of Homeland Security lapses.
Negotiations have allegedly begun, but it doesn’t appear that the two sides are actually talking to each other. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., has been tasked with leading those talks on the Senate Republican side, but she says that she hasn’t heard from her Democratic counterparts aside from what they’ve been putting out on social media.
“Unfortunately, you know, we’ve just seen things in social media and press conferences,” Britt said. “If you’re going to have an actual conversation, you have to have an actual conversation.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said that Britt has reached out to Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., but it’s “been crickets.”
But Democrats say they haven’t heard anything either.
Sen. Chris Murphy, who is the top Democrat on negotiating DHS funding on the Appropriations Committee, said talks haven’t even started between parties.
“We’re absolutely going to sit down. I haven’t heard her say that,” Murphy said on Thursday in response to questions about Britt not getting her calls returned. “We haven’t been negotiating for weeks, so I think we can get to a product, but they got to stop drawing these public red lines.”
Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., released their official list of demands on Wednesday night, which includes some of the red lines they’ve been asking for: mask-wearing requirements, mandatory body cameras, prominent identification, and more.
A lot of those have already been deemed nonstarters by Republicans. But it should act as a starting point for both parties to find an agreement. In theory. We’ll see if they can actually do that — and before the deadline.
Thune has already said they may need to put another temporary extension on the floor to buy time, and has even said the Senate might need to cancel its Presidents Day recess to continue negotiations.
As House Speaker Mike Johnson always says: “Stay tuned.”
Quick hits
From the Hill: Rep. Blake Moore has a new plan to cut the deficit. … Utah Sens. Mike Lee and John Curtis have different opinions on the Senate filibuster. … Trust wearing thin as ICE reform negotiations in Congress get bumpy start.
From the White House: DHS Secretary Kristi Noem faces local backlash during Phoenix visit. … Trump’s approval drops after month of ICE activity in Minnesota.
From the courts: Court hands down maximum sentence for assassination attempt on Trump. … This landmark ruling could change the future of gender-related treatments for minors. … Death penalty off the table for Luigi Mangione.
What’s next
The House and Senate are both in session next week. The funding deadline for the Department of Homeland Security is midnight on Friday.
As always, feel free to reach out to me by email with story ideas or questions you have for lawmakers. And follow me on X for breaking news and timely developments from the Hill.