“The current plan being proposed by HOUSE GOP to ‘MIRV’ NDAA + SAVE AMERICA is a procedural head fake.”
Several House GOP members voted against attaching the SAVE America Act to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on Tuesday, protesting the legislative procedure that was used to attach the bills together before the text goes to the Senate. The vote of 198 to 224 failed to attach the bills together.
Although more conservative House members have been pushing for the SAVE America Act and pushing for it to pass in the Senate, 14 voted against attaching the bill to a core piece of spending legislation, with some arguing that the Senate could easily strip the SAVE America Act out of the NDAA.
https://twitter.com/tpostmillennial/status/2072038077258731736
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) said in a post to X, "The current plan being proposed by HOUSE GOP to 'MIRV' NDAA + SAVE AMERICA is a procedural head fake. This does not do anything but guarantee the Senate will EASILY TAKE OUT SAVE America from the NDAA."
https://twitter.com/RepLuna/status/2071998000331722940?s=20
"HOUSE GOP LEADERSHIP SHOULD allow an AMENDMENT to ATTACH VOTER ID + PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP or SAVE America to the ACTUAL TEXT of NDAA. IF IT IS NOT DONE THIS WAY, IT WILL EASILY BE TAKEN OUT. If we do it as an amendment, the way that I proposed it, the Senate would need 60 votes to pass the legislation without SAVE America attached. Meaning it would be harder for them to TAKE it out," she added.
"MIRV" is an acronym for "multiple-impact reentry vehicles," and is used as slang in the House for a rule whereby multiple bills, after they are passed, are all placed together in one legislative vehicle. However, in the Senate, it is procedurally easier to separate the bills to be voted down.
If the SAVE Act was attached to the NDAA by amendment, which changes the core text of the bill, there is a longer procedural process to change the final bill in the Senate. Luna had proposed an amendment to the NDAA leading up to the vote, but it was not taken up.
"I have already submitted both the amendment to attach SAVE America Act to rules but tomorrow I will also submit a Voter ID/Proof of Citizenship Amendment to the Rules Committee. The Rules Committee can include this in the special rule (structured rule) and waive germaneness/other points of order. This allows debate/vote on the floor under controlled time. NDAA has seen many OTHER policy riders via this process," she said in another post.
She added that other bills have been passed with NDAA with similar maneuvers even if they are not germane. "Germaneness" in the House and Senate means that bills and amendments must be tied to the underlying subject matter of the motion at hand.
GOP Reps. Tim Burchett, Eric Burlison, Eli Crane, Randy Fine, Andy Harris, Anna Paulina Luna, Max Miller, Chip Roy, Keith Self, Victoria Spartz, Mike Turner, Thomas Massie, and Lauren Boebert voted against the procedural vote to attach the bills through the "MIRV" rule. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise switched his vote to no at the end so that the Republicans could call the bill back up.
Burchett also voiced concerns that the SAVE America Act was not attached to the NDAA by amendment.
https://twitter.com/timburchett/status/2072025542887428116?s=20
After the vote, House Speaker Mike Johnson responded to the group of GOP House members who voted against the bill and said, “A couple of the members, if you ask them why they voted no, they’ll say it was out of frustration from Senate Democrats refusing to do the will of the American people and work on election integrity.”
"It makes no sense for us to stop our very important progress forward from House Republicans, because some Senate Democrats are refusing to do their job. That’s where we are. That’s the reality of it,” he added, per The Hill.
He added that he would work with House leaders to advance the rule “over the next day and a half.”
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