Speaker Johnson Leaves House Floor - Issues Major Announcement to the Country
The House Is Open for Business Again — and the SAVE America Act Is Going With the Bill That Unlocked It
Posted July 15, 2026
After nearly a month of self-inflicted paralysis, House Republicans finally ended their procedural blockade Tuesday — and Speaker Mike Johnson had to make a deal to do it. The deal he made is exactly the right one.
The procedural vote passed 215-211, clearing the way for votes on the State Department appropriations bill, permanent Daylight Saving Time, and veterans’ benefits legislation. The price of unlocking the floor: Johnson agreed to pair the State Department funding bill directly with the SAVE America Act. Several conservative holdouts who had shut down the chamber over Senate inaction on voter ID flipped their votes the moment that pairing was confirmed.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna — the Florida Republican who organized the blockade and kept it going even after Johnson initially attached the SAVE America Act to the defense policy bill — voted yes and made clear exactly where the pressure now lands: “If John Thune strips it out in the Senate, that will be on him, and the entire country should be watching what he does.”
She’s right. And Thune knows it.
The House has now passed or attached the SAVE America Act multiple times through multiple vehicles. The Senate has received it, considered it, and watched John Thune declare there aren’t 60 votes to overcome the filibuster — while simultaneously declining to do anything about the filibuster threshold that is the only thing blocking it. Democrats have publicly announced they will kill the filibuster the moment they take back power. Republicans are preserving it to protect a rule their opponents have already promised to destroy.
The logic of that position gets harder to defend by the day.
Here’s the cold truth about where the SAVE America Act stands: popular doesn’t begin to cover it. Polling shows 4-to-1 support among the American public — across party lines, across demographics, across every group you can name. Requiring proof of citizenship to register and photo ID to vote is not a controversial position among actual voters. It is only controversial inside a Washington bubble populated by people whose electoral interests depend on keeping the system exactly as it is.
Chip Roy and the Freedom Caucus are right that the Permanent Trump Secure Border Act deserves a floor vote too. Codifying the end of catch-and-release, locking in border security measures, addressing birthright citizenship — these are legitimate legislative priorities that deserve to move. The House has work to do on multiple fronts simultaneously.
But if there’s one bill that has to cross the finish line before the 2026 midterms, it’s the SAVE America Act. Without election integrity, every other victory is built on sand. Democrats know it. That’s why they’ve fought it at every turn.
The House did its part. The Senate is watching. Thune needs 51 votes to change the filibuster threshold and pass the most important election security legislation in a generation.
Find them. The whole country is watching.
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Posting as GuestCBS Host LOSES IT After Sen. Kennedy FACT CHECKS Her Trump LIES… THIS GOT BAD!...
CBS Host PRESSES John Kennedy on Trump’s Spending — His Answer Takes an Unexpected Turn
The interview began with some of the biggest questions facing Washington: the conflict with Iran, rising fuel costs, and the approaching midterm elections. But when Republican Senator John Kennedy appeared on Face the Nation with CBS host Margaret Brennan, the conversation quickly moved toward an issue that could shape the political debate for months to come: how the government spends taxpayers’ money.
Kennedy did not pretend that the economic pressure facing American families was insignificant. He argued that voters were far more concerned about the cost of living than the daily battles playing out on television. With oil prices affected by disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz, he said, the consequences of foreign policy were reaching directly into household budgets.
Kennedy Brings the Conversation Back to Affordability
Kennedy’s message to the White House was unusually direct. He predicted that the midterm elections would be close and argued that Republicans needed to keep their attention on the financial concerns of ordinary Americans.
“When moms and dads lie down to sleep at night and can't,” Kennedy told Brennan, they are worried about the cost of living.
He also called for a nationwide address explaining why the United States entered the conflict with Iran, what the administration hoped to achieve, and how it intended to bring the situation to a conclusion.
His position was not a blanket rejection of the administration’s strategy. Kennedy defended continued pressure on Iran while acknowledging the economic consequences of the partially closed strait. He opposed sending American troops into the situation, warning that deploying them could create a new set of problems.
That combination—support for pressure abroad alongside concern about prices at home—set the tone for the rest of the interview.
Nearly $1 Billion in Cuts Sparks a Constitutional Dispute
The conversation became more pointed when Brennan asked about the White House’s decision to cancel nearly $1 billion in previously approved federal funding without congressional consent.
Brennan raised concerns expressed by Senator Susan Collins, the Republican chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, who argued that the move threatened Congress’s constitutional authority over federal spending.
Kennedy disagreed.
“I love Susan like a taco, but she's wrong,” he said before explaining his view that Congress often appropriates money in broad categories, leaving agencies with considerable discretion over how funds are ultimately used.
He then deployed the phrase that would become the interview’s most memorable sound bite: “Spending porn.”
Kennedy used the expression to criticize what he considers wasteful government expenditures, pointing to funding for circumcision programs in Zambia and electric buses in Rwanda. He also argued that Congress should take greater responsibility for identifying and eliminating spending it believes is unnecessary.
But the disagreement was about more than whether particular programs were worthwhile. It raised a larger question: when Congress approves funding, how much authority should the executive branch have to cancel or redirect it?
Kennedy defended the cuts, while Brennan’s question highlighted the legal and constitutional objections. The interview did not resolve that dispute, but it brought the competing arguments into sharp focus.
Then Kennedy Turned the Standard on Trump
The most revealing moment came when Brennan shifted from the proposed cuts to taxpayer-funded advertising.
She asked Kennedy about a government-funded commercial prominently featuring President Donald Trump and praising his leadership. The question echoed earlier controversy surrounding former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose department had spent $220 million on a border-security advertising campaign in which she appeared prominently.
Kennedy had previously criticized Noem’s campaign. Now, with Trump featured in another advertisement paid for by the federal government, Brennan asked whether that spending was appropriate.
Kennedy’s response was notable because he explicitly included his own political allies—and himself—in the principle he was defending.
“I don't think any public official, including President Trump or Kristi Noem or John Kennedy, should spend public money on private ads for themselves,” he said.
He acknowledged that the White House viewed the issue differently but argued that public funds should not be used to promote individual politicians. He also suggested that politicians should not have buildings named after them while they are still alive.
That answer complicated any attempt to portray his position as simply a defense of the administration. Kennedy supported the proposed spending cuts, but he also applied his criticism of taxpayer-funded self-promotion to Trump.
The Real Takeaway From the Interview
The exchange was not a shouting match, nor does the published transcript establish that Brennan lost her composure or that Kennedy fact-checked a series of false statements from her. What it does show is a pointed discussion about economic priorities, congressional spending authority, and whether public money should be used to enhance a politician’s image.
Kennedy’s argument was straightforward: families are worried about affordability, government spending deserves scrutiny, and the rules should apply regardless of party.
Whether viewers agree with his assessment of the proposed cuts is a separate question. The legal dispute over executive spending authority and the debate over taxpayer-funded political advertising deserve examination beyond a few memorable television lines.
The moment worth watching is when Brennan moves from criticizing government spending in general to asking Kennedy about an advertisement featuring Trump himself. That is where the discussion becomes more complicated—and where Kennedy’s stated principle is tested against his own party’s leadership.
Watch the full interview through the link below to hear the exchange in context and decide how convincing each side’s argument really was.
