U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) arrive for a House Republican Caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 30, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
House Speaker Mike Johnson attempted to pass President Donald Trump's Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or the SAVE America Act, by attaching it to the annual defense budget bill, or NDAA, a strategy devised by conservative hardliners led by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL).
However, the plan backfired when 14 House Republicans blocked the procedural vote, according to Politico.
Luna had previously vowed to block all House bills unless the Senate acted on the legislation, but Johnson chose a different approach by combining both measures during the procedural vote.
The failure was compounded by Trump's previous claims on Truth Social, when he opposed using the NDAA as leverage for the SAVE America Act. Luna and Johnson proceeded anyway.
MS NOW was quick to react, with reporter Mychael Schnell saying, "it's a massive embarrassment and a blow to Speaker Johnson."
She continued, "It's never good when a rule vote fails. But the interesting thing here is that the left hand isn't really aware of what the right hand is doing when you talk about Republican leaders, because last week, President Trump had taken to Truth Social and said he did not want these Republicans in the House to be holding hostage these procedural rules in the NDAA in order to get the SAVE America bill passed."
The blocked vote has left the House floor paralyzed with no clear path forward for the legislation, though conservatives and Trump remain unwilling to abandon the effort.
Watch the video below.