Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna has outlined an unexpected strategy to keep Donald Trump’s SAVE America Act alive, despite the President signaling that hardline MAGA Republicans should not block other legislation over the measure.
Luna told the Daily Mail on Sunday night that she intends to add Trump’s high-profile voter ID proposal to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a major military funding bill, instead of pushing the voting measure as a standalone vote.
The NDAA is set to be considered by the Rules Committee on Monday, and Luna said she has prepared two amendments that should be “visible on the website this Monday by 2pm.”
Trump appeared to put House Speaker Mike Johnson’s broader legislative plans at risk last week when he said he would not sign a major housing bill unless the SAVE Act first cleared Congress.
However, after Trump and Johnson met on Thursday, the two projected unity. Trump later posted on Truth Social urging conservative holdouts to stop “grandstanding,” seeming to acknowledge that the SAVE Act should not be allowed to derail other GOP priorities.
When asked about Trump’s call to avoid obstruction on the House floor, Luna pushed back on that characterization, saying, “We don’t call it obstruction, we call it how the sausage is made, and as you know, DC legislation is a messy thing, but we always get it done.”
Luna said one amendment would attach the full SAVE Act to the NDAA, describing the defense bill as “a just vehicle to actually get it passed.”
Speaking Sunday on the Kennedy Center red carpet before the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, Luna said she also has a fallback option: a more moderate plan centered on “voter ID plus proof of citizenship.”
Anna Paulina Luna and her husband Andrew Gamberzky attend the 27th Annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor gala at The Kennedy Center on June 28, 2026 in Washington, DC
President Donald Trump gestures as he enters the White House on June 28, 2026
‘My task for this week is to get this done on behalf of the American people, literally an 80-20 issue,’ Luna added.
In a post to his Truth Social site on Thursday afternoon, Trump stated that House Republicans should ‘unify and stop voting down rules’ or ‘threatening to do so.’
‘Giving power to the Radical Left Democrats in the House to control what goes up for a Vote will make our outcomes worse, not better. No more grandstanding, please! Trump said.
In an interview on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures, House Speaker Mike Johnson, who met with Trump at the White House on Thursday, revealed that although the House has passed the SAVE America Act three times, ‘this time we’re going to try to put it on a reconciliation bill.’
Johnson said that the reason for the renewed legislative effort is that ‘it prevents the necessity of 60 votes in the Senate. The Democrats want no part of this. And, remember, this is very basic stuff,’ Johnson told Fox anchor Maria Bartiromo on Sunday.
‘We’re just going to make sure you have to have proof of citizenship to register to vote and then show an I.D. when you – when you turn out at the ballot box,’ he added.
The House Speaker also called out Luna by name, saying, ‘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.’
A number of Luna’s House GOP colleagues told the Daily Mail last week that they did not think her original plan to stop the passage of other bills before the SAVE America Act is passed was the best approach.
Speaking about Trump’s Thursday Truth, Johnson revealed that he ‘was standing next to [Trump] when he TRUTHED it.’
Luna also said on Thursday that consideration of her amendment on the SAVE America Act would make her stand down.
The SAVE America Act would require Americans to show a passport, birth certificate or REAL ID to vote — student IDs and utility bills would not qualify.
The bill in its current form has needed 60 votes to pass in the US Senate, far more than the simple majority it cleared in a procedural test vote in March.
It’s has been widely viewed as dead on arrival it its previously passed form given Republicans’ slim Senate majority.
