House Speaker Johnson tries to patch things up between Trump and Congress

By Nolan D. McCaskill and Steve Holland

WASHINGTON, June 25 (Reuters) – U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson was due to meet with President Donald Trump on Thursday in hopes of defusing a standoff with Congress over a stalled package of national voting restrictions that the president views as his top legislative priority.

A day after a contentious closed-door meeting between Trump and Senate Republicans, hardline Trump allies led by U.S. Representative Anna Paulina Luna effectively shut down the House floor until the Senate passes a voter ID bill, known as the SAVE America Act, which the Senate has tried and failed to pass five times since March.

Trump employed a similar tactic to pressure Senate Republicans on Wednesday by pulling out of a signing ceremony for a popular bipartisan housing bill. House and Senate Republican leaders had hoped to showcase the bill as evidence they are addressing the high cost of living, the top issue for voters in the November midterm elections that will determine whether Republicans retain their majorities in Congress.

Trump and Johnson were expected to discuss a legislative path forward for the SAVE America Act and a rescheduling of the signing ceremony for the housing bill.

“I’m going to talk with the president about these issues and how to get the agenda moving again,” Johnson told reporters before heading to the White House.

Hours after Senate Republicans met with Trump on Wednesday, the chamber left early for a two-week July 4 break without any action on the SAVE America Act, despite mounting pressure from hardliners on Senate Majority Leader John Thune and his Republican colleagues.

“I will not be voting to re-open the floor until the Senate gets back to Washington,” Luna said in a social media post after their departure.

With only a slim 218-212 Republican majority, Johnson can afford to lose no more than two votes on any measure that faces unanimous opposition from Democrats. While Johnson’s raucous caucus has caused him problems, he does not face the same challenges that Thune does in the Senate, where rules effectively require bipartisan support of most legislation.

At a Thursday news conference, eight of Luna’s fellow hardliners emphasized their own opposition to moving forward on House bills while the Senate is out of session. 

House Republican leaders tried to overcome the hardliners’ roadblock to advance bills to support veterans and fund government agencies including the State Department in fiscal year 2027, which begins on October 1. But the chamber was expected instead to leave town a day early on Thursday without acting on the legislation.    

TRUMP FOCUSED ON VOTING RULES

The SAVE America Act would require a photo ID to vote in federal elections and proof of U.S. citizenship to register, while compelling states to turn over their voter registration rolls to the federal government. 

The bill, which faces vehement opposition from Democrats, passed the House of Representatives in February but has since languished in the Senate. Trump also wants the bill to sharply restrict mail-in voting, which is a concern for Republicans worried that it could hurt turnout in rural areas.

Critics say the bill targets a nearly non-existent problem of non-citizen voting, which Trump has falsely blamed for his 2020 loss to former President Joe Biden. They also warn that the legislation would disenfranchise American citizens who do not have ready access to a passport or birth certificate.

Trump supporters have called for including the SAVE America Act in a special budget reconciliation bill that can pass the Senate with 51 Republican votes and overruling the parliamentarian — the official charged with upholding chamber rules — if the voter ID measure is ruled ineligible, as it was earlier this year.

Johnson told reporters only that he plans to put the legislation on the House floor again. But Representative Tom Emmer, the House’s No. 3 Republican, indicated in an interview that the speaker could be on board with the budget reconciliation strategy. 

 “You put it on the floor – this is what Mike Johnson is saying – you overrule the parliamentarian,” Emmer told conservative media host John Fredericks. 

Parliamentarians have been overruled, ignored and even fired a number of times. Senate Democrats overruled the parliamentarian in 2013 to eliminate the filibuster for confirming presidential nominees. Republicans did the same for Supreme Court nominees in 2017.

But Thune and other Republicans insist that they do not now have the votes for such a maneuver.

Other Republicans have openly warned that Trump’s unrelenting focus on the SAVE America Act could play into the hands of Democrats, who hope to take control of the House and possibly the Senate in November, and have been quick to seize on the issue.

“People are clearly struggling, and that’s what public sentiment shows unequivocally, and Donald Trump has failed to solve that challenge,” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries told CNBC on Thursday. 

(Reporting by Nolan D. McCaskill, Steve Holland, David Morgan and Susan Heavey; writing by David Morgan; Editing by Scott Malone, Alistair Bell and Edmund Klamann)