Mike Johnson emerged from a White House meeting on Thursday saying he and Donald Trump were “on exactly the same page” about ending the House’s legislative blockade. But the stop-start fight over floor votes was still in place, with Anna Paulina Luna and a group of Republican lawmakers holding back other business until the SAVE America Act advances.
That makes Johnson’s message more than a show of unity. Trump had already canceled the signing ceremony for major housing legislation on Wednesday, then told Senate Republicans they must first pass the SAVE America Act, which would require voters to present additional ID and proof of citizenship to cast ballots. One version of the measure has already cleared the House, but it has stalled in the Senate, where Republicans hold a 53-47 advantage.
Johnson said the dispute could not keep swallowing the chamber’s schedule. “He wants to ensure that we stop any blockade in the House,” he said after the meeting, adding that “the majority party should never be voting down rules.” He also said Republicans “got to be able to move forward on legislation and continue the America First agenda,” and said he would be “transmitting the housing bill to the White House.”
The snag is that Luna has been leading the effort to prevent other legislation from reaching the floor at all, and there is no sign yet that the lockup has broken. The blockade has forced the House into a narrow corridor: either advance the election measure first, or keep other bills off the floor. Johnson said Wednesday that Republicans would need to rely on the partisan reconciliation process to deal with the SAVE America Act, a route that highlights how little room he has to maneuver while his own members are withholding rules.
Trump sharpened the pressure just before 5 p.m. Thursday, calling for an end to the blockade by Luna and others and urging House Republicans to unify. Johnson now has the public backing of the president he just met with, but the real test is whether that message is enough to pry open the floor and let the House move again.
