Republicans control the House, but they can't pass a spending bill, can't pass a veterans' measure, and can't get their own members to stop shooting at each other — all while President Trump requests another $87.6 billion, mostly for the war with Iran. That's the state of play in Washington this week, and working Americans are the ones paying for the dysfunction.
The stakes are straightforward. Speaker Mike Johnson sent lawmakers home early Friday after Rep. Anna Paulina Luna and more than two dozen holdouts blocked all floor action, demanding the Senate pass the SAVE America Act — a bill requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote. The Senate has already killed it. Four Senate Republicans — Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Thom Tillis, and Mitch McConnell — joined 46 Democrats to vote down an amendment attaching the SAVE Act to an immigration enforcement reconciliation bill, according to the Daily Caller. That's the uni-party in action: Republican leadership in the Senate doing the Democrats' work for them on an issue that polls at 90-10 with the American public.
Johnson told Fox News' Maria Bartiromo that Republicans would try again by attaching SAVE to a reconciliation bill, which only requires 51 Senate votes. "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."
Maybe — but it's not just Democrats standing in the way. It's McConnell and his wing.
Meanwhile, Trump torpedoed a bipartisan housing bill signing ceremony, refusing to sign until Congress delivers on election integrity. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, years in the making, now sits in limbo. Johnson said he'd send it to Trump Monday and expects a signature, but the president's leverage play underscores how far behind Congress is on its own agenda.
Trump also posted on Truth Social: "No more grandstanding, please!" — a message aimed at his own side. And he threatened to withhold federal funds from states that don't implement SAVE, while saying he won't support reauthorizing FISA surveillance powers unless the election bill is included.
Democrats, naturally, gloated. "This is the incredibly pathetic Congress," said Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts. "The fact they can't get their act together, can't establish discipline to keep this place running, is stunning. I've never seen such incompetence."
He's not wrong about the incompetence — he's just wrong about whose side is solely responsible.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., called the holdout strategy "self-defeating." Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., predicted more gridlock unless SAVE passes: "I think everything is going to be held up until we come to an agreement on voter ID."
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Hartford Courant, both running the same AP wire, mentioned the $87.6 billion Iran war request in passing — second paragraph, one sentence — before moving on. Neither pressed on the obvious question: how does a Republican majority that can't pass a veterans' bill justify sending another fortune overseas? The Daily Caller didn't mention the Iran spending at all, focusing instead on the reconciliation strategy.
Here's the picture: House Republicans are fighting each other over how to force a vote on a bill their own Senate colleagues already killed. The Speaker's plan is to stuff it into reconciliation and hope for the best. Trump is holding housing legislation hostage to get leverage. And nobody is talking about the $87.6 billion heading out the door to yet another foreign conflict while the border stays open and spending stays sky-high.
The question isn't whether Republicans can govern. This week proved they can't. The question is whether anyone in this town even wants to.
