'As long as it takes': Trump allies freeze House floor to pressure Senate on voter ID bill

A group of conservatives is vowing to grind the House floor to a halt until Republicans pass the SAVE America Act. 

"There's going to be no votes this week, and it's going to be as long as it takes," Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., who is leading the effort, told Fox News Digital in an interview.

The hardball tactics led House Republican leadership to pull a series of votes on Wednesday. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is expected to put legislation that had already been teed up for a vote Thursday, but it is unclear whether he will be able to convince Luna and other conservatives to end their blockade, effectively freezing the House floor. 

"The president's been very clear," Luna told Fox News Digital. "He's not playing these games anymore, and I'm going to fully back him, and I have the votes to do it."

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President Donald Trump has repeatedly insisted the SAVE America Act is his top legislative priority. The sprawling legislation, which would enact voter ID requirements, crack down on mail-in voting and ban sex change procedures for minors, has stalled in the Senate amid widespread opposition from Democrats. 

House conservatives are pressuring their Senate colleagues to fight for the bill, but a version that incorporates all the president’s priorities has yet to receive a vote in their chamber.

Johnson is scheduled to meet with Trump later Thursday in a likely attempt to break the logjam. Given the speaker's razor-thin majority, just a few dissenting Republicans can have an outsize impact on whether legislation can be advanced through the House. 

Johnson floated Wednesday incorporating a narrow version of the SAVE America Act into a third budget reconciliation package. The provision would create a grant program encouraging states to require federally verified REAL IDs at the ballot box.

But Luna indicated to Fox News Digital that the speaker’s proposal was an inadequate fix. 

"I want to warn the American people that you cannot get SAVE America Act on reconciliation," Luna said, referring to a potential third party-line package. "It's not possible to be done, so we're not drinking the Kool-Aid on that. Unless the Senate decides to fire the parliamentarian, nothing will change."

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The impasse is not expected to resolve soon, with the Senate leaving Wednesday to begin a two-week recess around the July 4 holiday.

No senators objected to starting the planned break early. 

Luna also dismissed the significance of the bipartisan housing bill that passed the lower chamber this week. Republicans have pointed to the legislation — aimed at expanding the nation’s housing stock — as crucial to their affordability messaging ahead of November’s midterm elections. 

"They don't get to go home and say that they're getting wins for the American people when they're not even able to deliver on that 80/20 issue," Luna said, referring to the SAVE America Act. 

"And I really applaud the president for saying that he's not going to sign it into law. I think that he reserves the right to veto," the Florida lawmaker continued.

Luna and the band of conservatives opposed the sweeping housing bill as part of their pledge to vote "no" on every piece of legislation that comes over from the Senate until the SAVE America Act passes.

"In us shutting down the floor, it's showing that … they're not going to be able to get done what they want to get done," Luna said.