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by\u00a0David Dayen<\/a><\/strong> June 25, 2026 (Prospect.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Dayen-SAVE-Act-062526.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1\")
Donald Trump has found a way to soothe Democratic fears that Republicans in Congress will continue to savage the poor, funnel money to the rich, and make the nation safe for corporate dominion. He\u2019s effectively shut down Congress until it passes an unpassable bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump is demanding that the SAVE America Act\u2014a voter suppression bill he thinks will save his hide in the midterms\u2014reach his desk first before he\u2019ll take care of any other congressional business. First it was Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the warrantless spying program that the intelligence hawks were poised to ram through again until Trump said SAVE had to be attached<\/a>. Then a signing ceremony for the ROAD to Housing Act, a bipartisan agreement that passed with over 90 percent of Congress in both chambers, was abruptly canceled<\/a> Wednesday because Trump asked for SAVE first. (That will likely become law anyway, as I\u2019ll explain.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n More from David Dayen<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Now this controlled burn is going to set fire to the last chance for Republicans to do anything else meaningful before the midterms. The SAVE Act has poisoned this process entirely, and there\u2019s really no path for it to happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Remarkably enough, there are other potentially worthy bipartisan deals under discussion, for a $35 monthly co-pay<\/a> for all insulin prescriptions and for child online safety rules<\/a>, to name two. None of them will get done as long as this SAVE thing hangs over the proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why is Trump destroying a Republican Congress\u2019s ability to affirm his priorities? First, he really does think he can rig the elections in his favor and avoid accountability. But second and perhaps more important, Trump and his loyal sentry Russ Vought are running the government to their satisfaction without congressional input, defying legislative spending prerogatives and unilaterally budgeting government operations. So who cares if Congress can\u2019t pass a law? Laws are not being followed anyway. The core of the constitutional system, Congress\u2019s control of federal spending, has been effectively suspended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n WHAT IS THE SAVE AMERICA ACT?<\/strong> Its supporters claim it would simply make sure that only American citizens vote in federal elections. But that\u2019s what the law already says now, and there are no reports of more than a tiny handful of violations in the last 30 years since it became a federal crime, and many of those were accidents. Stealing an election by convincing thousands of people to commit a felony in person is a highly implausible strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Under the bill, all voter registration would have to be done in person with documentation like a passport, certified birth certificate with photo ID, or a naturalization certificate. A driver\u2019s license alone wouldn\u2019t count. This would be mandatory for any voter registration update, like after a move. Any married woman would have to certify their name change in order to register. Any rural voter would have to drive to their election office, which could be hundreds of miles. Low-income, minority, and student voters\u2014plus even military members stationed overseas\u2014would have trouble accessing the ballot. It would be a total mess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And it isn\u2019t going to become law. There aren\u2019t anything close to 60 votes for it in the Senate, and there aren\u2019t anything close to 50 Republican votes to overturn the filibuster that would lower that threshold. There may not even be 50 votes for SAVE if there were no filibuster; there were exactly 50<\/a> during a procedural vote earlier this month, and several of those votes are shaky if they actually meant the bill would pass. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has said that Trump is living in an \u201calternative universe\u201d on the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But some congressional Republicans populate the same universe, like Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and members of the House Freedom Caucus. They believe they can shut Congress down until it acts on SAVE. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) led a rebellion to sink the House\u2019s work for the week, and the leadership had to\u00a0cancel a vote yesterday<\/a>. It was Luna\u2019s idea to stop the housing bill signing until SAVE passes, and Trump dutifully agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Incidentally, there\u2019s now a claim that House Speaker Mike Johnson didn\u2019t present the bill to the president, so he can\u2019t sign it. This is a bullshit cover story; the signing ceremony was abruptly killed\u2014of course everything was put in place for that signing. Johnson is now pretending he didn\u2019t present it\u2014or just staying mum about it\u2014to spare Trump the embarrassment from the Constitutional mandate that any unsigned bill becomes law after ten days. Nothing can be done in Washington if Trump doesn\u2019t agree to it, therefore the lie.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The effort inside Congress to mirror Trump\u2019s demands will close the House; just like when the House closed for weeks because Johnson didn\u2019t want to allow a vote to release the Epstein files, it\u2019s closed again because of SAVE. Johnson is attempting to bargain with the alternate-universe crowd by saying he will put SAVE in a third reconciliation bill, which has been in the planning stages for weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The idea was to add $350 billion for the Pentagon\u2014much of it to cover the disastrous war in Iran\u2014to match Trump\u2019s target of $1.5 trillion in military funding, and to add so-called \u201canti-fraud\u201d measures to offset the cost. Tax cuts are likely too, you know, because it\u2019s a Republican bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But House moderates are wary of agreeing to even more heavy cuts, doubling down on the unpopular Big Beautiful Bill approach that has devastated the poor<\/a> so billionaires can get richer. The Senate doesn\u2019t want to deal with a third reconciliation bill at all, because it would require another \u201cvote-a-rama\u201d opportunity where Democrats can force tough votes on issues that matter to the election. And the SAVE Act, which has no primary budgetary component, wouldn\u2019t survive the reconciliation process anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump\u2019s demand for SAVE, then, dooms the only party-line vehicle available, and could doom his Pentagon budget plan. The White House has asked for an emergency $87 billion supplemental<\/a> to cover war costs and agricultural aid , but that comes on the heels of bipartisan majorities in both houses voting to end the Iran war; its unpopularity means a spending bill effectively approving it is a heavy lift. And even though Trump\u2019s administration asked for the supplemental, his zeal for SAVE, the subject of a contentious Senate Republican caucus lunch<\/a> with the president on Wednesday, would surely get in the way of signing that bill into law as well, if it can even get through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n YET PART OF ME WONDERS<\/strong> whether Russ Vought is quietly whispering in Trump\u2019s ear about the SAVE Act so he can continue his work of commandeering the budget process from the branch of government that\u2019s supposed to have the constitutional authority for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just this week, ProPublica reported<\/a> that the Trump administration is violating specific appropriations guidelines for foreign aid. Despite clearly stating where money was supposed to go and for what purpose, Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, just isn\u2019t doing it. Vought and Trump have also asserted the power to cancel any grant<\/a> that doesn\u2019t meet with the president\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last week, at a confirmation hearing for Hal Duncan to become Vought\u2019s top deputy, the nominee refused to commit<\/a> to avoiding \u201cpocket rescissions\u201d at the end of this fiscal year. Last year, Trump canceled $4.9 billion in foreign aid through a rescission message less than 45 days before the end of the fiscal year. There are rules in place for Congress to deal with rescissions, but if the fiscal year ends before the 45-day window they have to do that, Vought has decreed that they can just cancel the funding unilaterally. The Supreme Court blessed that last year<\/a>, and Duncan was signaling that the administration will just keep doing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Federal judges keep telling Trump that he\u2019s unlawfully canceling programs<\/a> and violating Congress\u2019s power of the purse. But that hasn\u2019t stopped Trump and Vought from unilaterally dictating spending decisions, sometimes with the Supreme Court assisting down the road, in a way that simply transfers the power of the purse by extra-constitutional means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Congress has the tools to fight back; they\u2019ve threatened to freeze<\/a> Pete Hegseth\u2019s travel budget if he doesn\u2019t give them more details about the Caribbean boat strikes. But if Congress is functionally inert, they won\u2019t have much say in the matter. So shutting down Congress has a dual purpose: It gives Trump room to yell about the SAVE Act, but it also makes it easier to defy Congress\u2019s wishes on appropriations and take over the budget process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump can be a doddering, conspiracy-addled fool and still have people burrowed in his deep state who are strategic. That\u2019s what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I hope that you found this article interesting and thought-provoking. The reason we\u2019re able to publish stories like this \u2014 free of programmatic ads and never behind a paywall \u2014 is because readers like you step up to support our work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Prospect <\/em>doesn’t answer to advertisers or billionaire owners. We answer to you and to our commitment to pursuing the truth, wherever that leads us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Independent, reader-supported journalism is critical at a time when the free press is under assault. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you believe this kind of reporting should exist and remain free to read, we hope you’ll consider chipping in. Every contribution, however modest, makes a real difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Donate Now<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n David Dayen<\/strong> March 23, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n April 2, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n April 17, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n ddayen@prospect.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n David Dayen is the executive editor of The American Prospect. He is the author of Monopolized: Life in the Age of Corporate Power and Chain of Title: How Three Ordinary Americans Uncovered Wall Street\u2019s Great Foreclosure Fraud. He co-hosts the podcast Organized Money with Matt Stoller. He can be reached on Signal at ddayen.90. More by David Dayen<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" First it was FISA, then a housing bill that overwhelmingly passed. Now it\u2019s going to end congressional lawmaking for the rest of the year. by\u00a0David Dayen June 25, 2026 (Prospect.org) Donald Trump has found a way to soothe Democratic fears that Republicans in Congress will continue to savage the poor,… Continue reading Before you go.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Executive Editor<\/p>\n\n\n\nRelated<\/em><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Warrantless Spying Reform Just Got a Whole Lot More Interesting<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Privacy Advocates Ambush Himes Over Clean FISA Push<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Mike Johnson Has a FISA Fiasco on His Hands<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
David Dayen<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n