‘One More Time’: Speaker Johnson Outlines New Plan To Pass ‘Top Priority’ SAVE America Bill

Although some of his GOP colleagues on Capitol Hill don’t seem to feel the same sense of urgency, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) remains committed to passing a voter ID bill that he describes as a “top priority” for both President Donald Trump and himself.

Resistance from other Republican leaders has drawn repeated criticism from the Trump administration, but Johnson said this week that he’s not finished fighting for the SAVE America Act’s passage.

As The Hill reported:

“The president has that as a top priority, and so do I,” Johnson told Fox News’s Shannon Bream in an interview on Sunday. “We passed it three times in the House. We’re going to try one more time on a budget reconciliation bill, and I think that will be the way to get it through the Senate, and finally, to the president’s desk.”

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Johnson defended the House version of the SAVE America Act as the “backbone” of what President Trump is pushing for to pass the Senate. 

He said that although a prohibition on mail-in voting with exceptions and other requests made by Trump could be included, the “bigger reach” is to hone the bill to focus on proof of citizenship to register and photo ID before casting a ballot, the core components of the bill.

“That eliminates the problem, all the fraud and everything that everybody’s concerned about in our elections, particularly, frankly, in these blue states,” Johnson said.

Speaker Johnson says there’s a chance to pass the SAVE America Act under the reconciliation bill.

That would require 50 Senate votes plus Vice President JD Vance as the tie breaker.

Let’s get it done. Keep fighting, patriots. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/u1dizXGf7i

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) July 2, 2026

Here’s a sampling of the attention this bill has been getting elsewhere within the Republican caucus:

🚨 IT'S OFFICIAL: Rep. Anna Paulina Luna just went full-blown WAR MODE for the SAVE America Act, telling Congressional leadership the rule will be DEFEATED unless SAVE is attached to the NDAA

"I don’t care who in this chamber hates me for it."

"We have feckless leadership in… pic.twitter.com/BPpscWKiXa

— War Correspondent (@warDaniel47) July 4, 2026

Trump just plugged SAVE America

The Senate needs to pass it

Immediately

— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) July 5, 2026

And here’s what Trump had to say on the matter just a couple of days earlier:

President Trump: "If we terminate the filibuster and immediately vote for the SAVE America Act, then we will not lose an election for 100 years. The communist party is made up of illegal immigrants, criminals, and everybody that doesn't want to work." pic.twitter.com/iRAtOrawRN

— TheBlaze (@theblaze) July 4, 2026

Politico also covered Johnson’s remarks:

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday that Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) was wrong to help torpedo an attempt to merge the SAVE America Act with the annual defense spending bill, but emphasized that “nobody’s mad” at their colleague who helped derail Hill Republicans’ agenda last week.

“We all want the same thing,” Johnson told Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday.” “She’s a team player, she’s a dear friend of mine, we’re gonna get this done.”

Johnson’s comments come after Luna, aided by a faction of conservative legislators, voted down an upcoming slate of House votes out of frustration with slow progress on President Donald Trump’s signature elections security act. The move led House Republican leaders to cancel votes on several key billsand send lawmakers home early for recess.

The SAVE America Act, which seeks to require proof of citizenship and photo identification for voting, has essentially halted most activity on the Hill. Lunaled a blockade preventing most House business from continuing over a lack of Senate action on the bill, even as Senate Republicans insist the legislation does not have enough support to pass.

And Trump himself has shown that few initiatives have greater urgency than passing the act, going so far as to cancel the signing of a bipartisan housing bill, explaining that he wanted the elections bill passed first.

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Luna helped spike the House agenda over her concerns that Johnson’s proposed formula for connecting the SAVE America Act with the annual defense spending bill would allow the Senate to dilute it.

Here’s a clip of Johnson’s interview: