House GOP weds SAVE Act to key funding bill, unshouldering burden of success onto Thune and company

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced late last month that he would bundle the SAVE America Act with the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act so that Senate Republicans are presented with the choice of both bolstering the integrity of American elections and funding national defense — or neither.

“We’re going to pass a MIRV, or what’s better known as a ‘merge onto the rule,'” said Johnson, adopting the military acronym for multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle, a ballistic missile that carries multiple warheads. “So what that means is, when Republicans vote for the rule, they’ll be voting not just for the NDAA and everything else in there, but they’ll be voting to merge onto that the SAVE America Act we passed back in February.”

‘WHATEVER IT TAKES.’

Johnson noted further that “if any Republicans choose to vote against the rule, they will be voting against that outcome. So we think this is another good way to show the resolve of the House.”

House Republicans’ resolve was tested and proven on Tuesday in a successful 215-211 vote in favor of a special rules resolution that included language that would attach the SAVE America Act (S.1383) to the end of the NDAA once it passes the House.

Florida Rep. Randy Fine was the lone Republican who voted against the rule.

Ahead of the vote, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) — who previously opposed the rule — noted on X, “We will try the MIRV process on the condition that Speaker Johnson attaches the SAVE America Act to all the appropriation bills and all must-pass bills here in the House and ensures it is sent to the Senate as one bill. If John Thune strips it out in the Senate that will be on him and the entire country should be watching what he does.”

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Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Inc./Getty Images

Luna said after the vote, “The House is doing its job, now it’s the Senate’s turn. All eyes on John Thune. If SAVE America fails all of America will know who to blame.”

While Luna preemptively assigned the burden of the act’s success to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), Democrats appear dead-set on blocking the linked NDAA, claiming their opposition has something to do with the protracted Iran conflict.

Although he too initially opposed the rule, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) suggested after its passage on Tuesday that it was worthwhile.

“That’s what we need,” said Burchett, reported The Hill. “We need to just keep pounding the Senate and forcing them to take the right stand.”

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) was among those enthusiastic over this turn of events, stating, “THANK YOU to House Republicans for delivering on their promises to the American people and setting a good example for us in the Senate.”

Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R) emphasized after the vote that with the midterm elections just a few months away, “we must try EVERYTHING we can to get the SAVE America Act passed. WHATEVER IT TAKES.”

In addition to tethering the SAVE America Act to the 2027 NDAA, the rule advances other legislation, including a measure that would make daylight saving time permanent nationwide and the State Department appropriations bill.

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