House Speaker Mike Johnson confirmed during an appearance on “Sunday Morning Futures” with host Maria Bartiromo that the House of Representatives will return to Washington, D.C., on Monday to continue moving forward on stalled legislation.
The decision to return follows a Friday voting freeze. Johnson chose to postpone votes after Representative Anna Paulina Luna of Florida led a group of Republican holdouts who threatened to block all legislative traffic until the Senate passed the SAVE America Act, a measure requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote.
Johnson explained on air that he advised Luna and other lawmakers not to let Senate opposition disrupt the work of the House.
“I told Anna Paulina Luna and a couple other colleagues— I said, ‘It makes no sense for us to shut down our good work in the House just because Senate Democrats refuse to do the people’s will,’” Johnson told Bartiromo. “We’ve got a lot more to do, we’ve got to keep it going.”
The voter eligibility measure previously faltered in the Senate when an amendment to attach it to an immigration enforcement reconciliation bill was voted down. Republican Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky joined 46 Democrats to defeat the amendment. President Donald Trump later signed the underlying immigration bill on June 10.
To bypass the 60-vote threshold required to overcome a Senate filibuster, Johnson outlined a strategy to embed the SAVE America Act into a future budget reconciliation bill, which only requires a simple majority to pass.
“This time we’re going to try to put it on a reconciliation bill and the reason that’s so important, Maria, as you know, is it prevents the necessity of 60 votes in the Senate,” Johnson said. “The Democrats want no part of this, and remember, this is very basic stuff.”
Johnson expanded on the contents of the proposed legislation during the interview. “We’re just going to make sure you have to have proof of citizenship to register to vote and then show an ID when you turn out at the ballot box,” Johnson said. “These are 90-10 public opinion issues and more than 70 percent of Democrats want to do it, but not the Democrats in the House and Senate and so we’ve got to go around them.”
Beyond the voter proof rules, Johnson noted that the House must address several major legislative items, including the National Defense Authorization Act, appropriations bills, and the reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
“I’ve got to have everybody working here on all cylinders and I’m excited to bring them back,” Johnson told Bartiromo.
Outside pressure regarding the legislative schedule continues to build. In a post on Truth Social, Donald Trump stated he would not support reauthorizing FISA unless the SAVE America Act was included in the package. Trump also threatened to withhold federal funds from states that do not implement the citizenship verification measures.
Currently, the Senate is in recess until July 13. The upper chamber adjourned on Wednesday after Trump canceled a scheduled signing ceremony for the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, pointing to the Senate’s failure to pass the SAVE America Act as the reason for the cancellation.
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