The House of Representatives passed a rare procedural rule Tuesday afternoon by a vote of 215-211, reopening the floor after three weeks without legislative action and setting the stage for two major conservative priorities ahead of the midterms.
Lawmakers now plan to attach the SAVE America Act to the National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Act. Combining the two would send the election-integrity measures to the Senate as part of a single spending package.
Speaker Mike Johnson needed the rule to pass, and members of the House Freedom Caucus knew it. In the final moments of the vote, they negotiated an agreement to support it. In exchange, Johnson promised the House Judiciary Committee an opportunity to mark up border and immigration legislation aimed at codifying the president’s border policies. A source familiar with the markup said discussions already include language to ban sanctuary cities and birthright citizenship.
The Freedom Caucus made its position public before the vote. “House Republicans overwhelmingly backed strong border security last Congress,” the group wrote on social media. “Now it’s time to step up again. Every member of Congress must go on record: Are you for open borders or not? Enough excuses — seal the border for good.”
The procedural tool used to advance the package is known as a MIRV, or Multiple-Impact Reentry Vehicle — a term borrowed from ballistic missile design. Johnson previously used the same mechanism in 2024 to pass a foreign aid package for Ukraine. Commentator Bradley Devlin drew a contrast between the two uses. “It’s truly amazing that GOP leadership was better prepared to use the MIRV for foreign aid than they were for Republican voters’ TOP priority,” he wrote, adding that the earlier package had been “MIRV-ed basically to ensure Ukraine was flooded with AMERICAN taxpayer dollars (60 billion).”
The rule covers four separate bills: the Sunshine Protection Act of 2025, which would make daylight saving time permanent; the National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Act of 2027; the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act; and the Protecting Privacy in Purchases Act, which would bar credit card companies from tracking firearm purchases.
Texas Representative Chip Roy, who sits on the Judiciary Committee overseeing the coming markup, has pushed for his own border measure to be included. “Congress MUST codify President Trump’s border policies by passing Rep. Roy’s Permanent Trump Secure Border Act (H.R. 9199),” his office wrote. “The American people rejected Biden’s border disaster. Congress must make sure it never happens again.”
Other Freedom Caucus members on the Judiciary Committee include Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Ben Cline of Virginia, Barry Moore of Alabama, Mark Harris of North Carolina, and Brandon Gill of Texas.
The markup is expected to shape the border provisions that ultimately reach the House floor, as lawmakers work to finalize the combined package before sending it to the Senate.
