House Republicans resurrect Save America Act by adding it to spending bill

Source: The Guardian

Wed 15 Jul 2026 17.17 EDT
Last modified on Wed 15 Jul 2026 19.46 EDT


House Republicans on Wednesday made another attempt to answer Donald Trump’s demand for new restrictions on voting nationwide by linking the measure to an unrelated spending bill and passing both largely along party lines. The effort was the latest attempt by congressional Republicans to pass the Save America Act, which would ban mail-in ballots and impose new identification requirements on voters when they register and cast ballots.

While the Trump administration has cast the bill as necessary to prevent non-citizens from voting and combat election fraud, voting rights advocates say there’s no evidence of widespread election tampering and warn the bill could disenfranchise swaths of eligible voters ahead of November’s midterm elections. The House of Representatives approved a version of the bill in February, but it has no path to passing the Senate, where top Democrats oppose the measure and can wield the filibuster to halt its advancement.

Rightwing House Republicans have nonetheless insisted that their leaders make the bill a priority, and Speaker Mike Johnson agreed to a plan to combine the Save America Act with a bill authorizing spending by the state department and related agencies, which the House passed by a 217-209 vote on Wednesday afternoon.

The Senate’s top Democrat Chuck Schumer vowed to again block the measure, as his party did when majority leader John Thune earlier this year opened debate on the Save America Act under pressure from Trump and his allies.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/15/house-republicans-save-america-act-spending-bill