Chip Roy and 24 other House Republicans said on Tuesday they will use a House GOP appropriations bill delay and other floor votes to press the U.S. Senate to pass the SAVE Act. Roy wrote on X Tuesday that his no votes would start Tuesday, turning the dispute into an immediate floor problem for House Republicans.
Roy said, "It's a bad bill & it's more Senate failure theater on SAVE," and said he would oppose bipartisan housing legislation first. The bipartisan housing bill passed the Senate on Monday, but Roy said he would still vote against it if it reached the House.
Chip Roy and House Republicans
The protest was not limited to Roy. Keith Self, Michael Cloud and Brandon Gill also said they would oppose all rules and legislation until the Senate passes the SAVE Act, putting 25 House Republicans in the same position on the floor.
The SAVE Act would require proof of citizenship to register to vote. Democrats and voting rights groups have criticized the legislation as likely to disenfranchise millions of voters who do not have a passport or ready access to their birth certificate. A Politico poll last month found 52% of Americans supported that requirement, 30% had no opinion and 18% opposed it.
Housing bill in House
The immediate effect reaches beyond the elections bill fight. House Republicans are now tying routine legislative action to the Senate's next move, which leaves the bipartisan housing bill exposed even after it cleared the Senate on Monday.
Roy also said he wants the U.S. Senate to advance legislation banning congressional stock trading and to fund Trump's immigration crackdown. That gives the House protest a wider list of demands than the SAVE Act alone, but Roy tied the timing to Tuesday and said the no votes would begin then.
For House leaders, the practical question is how long the block lasts if the U.S. Senate does not move on the SAVE Act. Every bill and rule that comes up for a vote can be caught in the standoff until House Republicans decide to stop voting no.
