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Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has an ambitious legislative agenda this week, but it’s unclear whether he can move those priorities forward as a group of conservative hard-liners demand action on the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act.
President Trump urged House Republicans last week to fall in line after conservative rebels brought most House floor activity to a standstill by threatening to oppose procedural rules unless the Senate passed the SAVE America Act. Because the House must adopt a rule before debating and voting on final passage of most legislation, the tactic effectively ground the chamber to a halt.
“House Republicans should unify, and stop voting down ‘Rules’ or, threatening to do so,” Trump wrote on Truth Social last week, adding: “No more grandstanding, please!”
Whether Trump’s appeal will be enough to sway the holdouts remains an open question.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) wrote on social media last week that she had submitted an amendment to the House Rules Committee to attach the SAVE America Act to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), signaling she is unwilling to back down.
“This amendment to attach the SAVE America Act to the NDAA was filed last week and is now sitting in the Rules Committee. This is how to get my vote on a rule. But I am one of MANY,” Luna wrote.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), the House Freedom Caucus’s policy chair, also appeared unmoved by Trump’s message. Responding to Trump’s post on social media, Roy said House Republicans should “immediately pass HR2 (promised) to codify border security, a congressional stock trading ban, get SAVE passed, & fully fund defense with real pay-fors.”
Johnson can afford little dissent as he needs near-unanimous GOP support to adopt procedural rules, given his razor-thin margin in the House.
The Senate is out on recess for two weeks.
What you can expect this week:
- House to consider NDAA: The House Rules Committee will meet on Monday and consider amendments to the NDAA.
- House to take up appropriations bill: The House will take up an appropriations bill this week after a revolt over the SAVE America Act delayed action on it.
- Reconciliation 3.0 heats up: House Republicans will continue planning out what to include in a third reconciliation bill.
- War powers resolution on calendar: The House could take up a war powers resolution directing Trump to remove troops from hostilities in Lebanon as early as this week.
House Rules Committee to consider NDAA
The House Rules Committee will meet on Monday to consider the NDAA for fiscal 2027. The legislation would establish policies and authorize appropriations for the Department of Defense’s military activities, military construction and the Department of Energy’s defense activities.
“The FY27 NDAA strengthens our ability to defend ourselves and deter our adversaries by revitalizing our defense industrial base, investing in innovative technologies, and restocking the Arsenal of Freedom,” House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said in a statement.
“With this authorization of $1.15 trillion in discretionary funds, we’re delivering on President Trump’s commitment to bring defense spending up to 4.5% of our GDP, and to reach a topline investment of $1.5 trillion in FY27.”
But Luna’s effort to attach the SAVE America Act to the NDAA would sink the legislation in the Senate, where it will need some Democratic support to overcome a filibuster. The SAVE America Act would require proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and the presentation of a photo ID to cast a ballot.
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, told Politico that Luna is “going to have to start being a team player here.”
“I mean, you can’t be a team of one. It’s not an institution that can function with one rogue member, especially in the small majority you have,” he told the outlet.
But Luna doesn’t appear to be backing down. She posted on social media that, “The NDAA rules frequently make dozens/hundreds of amendments in order after Armed Services markup; non-germane policy additions occur when leadership prioritizes them.”
“This is a PRIORITY,” she added.
House to take up delayed appropriations bill
The House will take up a spending bill that would fund the Department of State, national security and other related programs. The lower chamber was supposed to take up the bill last week, but it got punted due to the conservative revolt over the SAVE America Act.
It’s still unclear whether hard-liners will choose to oppose a procedural rule that will advance the bill this week.
The House already passed two fiscal 2027 appropriations bills, marking a key milestone for GOP leaders as they juggle a crowded legislative agenda.
One is a military construction and Veterans Affairs appropriations bill that would fund veterans benefits and invest more than $2 billion in infrastructure improvements for the Department of Veterans Affairs medical facilities and four cemeteries, along with a number of other priorities.
Another is an agriculture, rural development, Food and Drug Administration and related agencies bill that would deliver $1.16 billion to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and improve the “tracking system of foreign-owned land,” among other things, according to the House Appropriations Committee.
GOP continues discussions around reconciliation 3.0
House Republicans will continue hashing out the details of a third party-line budget package, a daunting undertaking for the majority party amid a high-stakes election year.
GOP lawmakers hope to use the measure to advance billions of dollars in defense spending, bolster fraud prevention efforts and enact a range of affordability-focused initiatives.
House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) told reporters last week that he sees a scenario where they can do a budget resolution markup this week.
“There’s a scenario. I’m not saying we’re there yet, but there’s a scenario. So, I was raised to keep fighting until they blow the whistle, you know, and the whistle hadn’t blown yet. The window is closing, I can see that, and the closer we get to November, the more difficult it is. But I mean, we’re 80 percent of the way there,” Arrington said.
The White House last week officially asked Congress for $87.6 billion in supplemental funding to pay for the Iran conflict, which Arrington said will likely have to go in the reconciliation bill rather than be passed through regular order.
“Quite frankly, after the longest sustained shutdown that I believe was instigated and sustained by Democrats on Homeland Security, I don’t see them helping us. So, the chance of that supplemental resourcing of our troops, in a time of conflict, by the way, is through reconciliation. Now we’re gonna make a run at it. We’re going to see if we can get some help from Democrats,” Arrington said.
Johnson last week also unveiled a proposal to include a grant program in the reconciliation bill that would create a fund states could tap to implement elements of the SAVE America Act. He said that Trump had wanted to see progress on the proposal.
But hard-liners had been skeptical of the proposal, saying that the grant program would merely be on an incentive basis.
“The blue states won’t opt into that. They will opt out if needed and will not touch that grant money,” Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said.
House to possibly take up Lebanon war powers resolution
The House could take up a war powers resolution directing Trump to remove troops from hostilities in Lebanon as early as this week.
The measure, introduced by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), notes that “nothing in this concurrent resolution may be construed to prevent or limit security cooperation with the Lebanese Armed Forces or the protection of diplomatic facilities,” according to its text.
The House had rejected a different Lebanon war powers resolution, also sponsored by Tlaib, earlier this month.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and a majority of Democrats opposed it. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) was the lone Republican to vote in favor of the resolution, while Democratic Reps. Betty McCollum (Minn.) and Derek Tran (Calif.) voted present.
Jeffries wrote in a statement at the time that “currently there are no U.S. servicemembers involved in combat operations or hostilities in Lebanon,” and that the best legislative vehicle to take action on the issue would be the war powers resolution on the calendar for this week.
Add as preferred source on Google Tags Anna Paulina Luna Chip Roy Donald Trump Mike Johnson Mike Rogers Ronny JacksonCopyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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