by WorldTribune Staff / 247 Real News September 14, 2026
House Republicans believe they have a shot at getting nationwide voter photo ID and proof of citizenship, key parts of the SAVE America Act, passed and signed into law before Novembers midterm elections.
Rep. Brian Steil is leading the GOP’s effort to get key parts of the SAVE America Act signed into law before the midterms.
House Speaker Mike Johnson is pushing Republicans to pass the SAVE America Act’s main mandates via the budget reconciliation process, which allows the party in power to pass sweeping fiscal policy without input from the minority due to its sidelining of the Senate filibuster, Fox News Digital reported on Monday.
Wisconsin Republican Rep. Bryan Steil, chairman of the Committee on House Administration, will oversee how that part of the bill gets done.
Steil told Fox News Digital that he hoped Congress could pass a reconciliation bill with SAVE America before the November midterm elections, but conceded “the clock is ticking down pretty quickly.”
Steil’s committee, which has jurisdiction over federal election law, is aiming to include two portions of the original SAVE America Act: a proof of citizenship mandate for the voter registration process, and a nationwide photo ID rule to cast a ballot.
“The House can go as fast as the Senate. And so the frustration that I and others have is the Senate’s not moving as fast as we would like on this. I actually think there’s 50 votes in the Senate for some of these really commonsense provisions,” Steil said. “I’d like to be sooner rather than later, but I don’t control them.”
Another obstacle is the Senate parliamentarian, who is appointed by Senate leadership to help interpret the chamber’s rules.
“The parliamentarian goes through the reconciliation bill draft and weeds out what does not adhere to the process rules. That means anything that does not impact the federal government’s budget, tax policy, or the national debt is generally removed,” the Fox News Digital report noted.
Steil said portions of the SAVE America Act could arguably get through that filtration process by affecting funds going to states via the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), a 2002-era election reform law.
“We could free up those funds or enhance those funds for states to do those post-election audits, which is a really important part of election integrity. You can do the same in regards to photo ID,” he said, adding that making Real ID the standard could also effectively impact the citizenship mandate. “Effectively, when an individual gets REAL ID, they’re proving their citizenship.”
