How Vance Helped GOP Advance Controversial Voter ID Bill

Speaker Mike Johnson pulled off another unlikely feat getting a divided Republican conference to pass a budget resolution including Iran war funding and voter ID requirements. This time, he had a hand from Vice President JD Vance, who worked the phones behind the scenes to get skeptical conservative members on board, sources familiar with the matter tell the Daily Signal. 

Overcoming numerous divisions within the conference, House Republicans on Wednesday successfully passed a framework for reconciliation 3.0, which included $95 billion in spending for the Iran war and parts of the SAVE America Act. 

The Senate’s process of reconciliation, used for certain budget-related items, bypasses the filibuster, requiring only a simple majority vote for passage instead of the usual 60 votes.

Several fiscal hawks in the House raised concerns that the bill did not include pay-fors for the massive spending on the Iran war. 

While conservatives were enthusiastic about passing parts of the SAVE America Act, they feared the provisions would offer only optional funding to states that agree to require voter ID and ban mail-in ballots, not changes to blue-state election policies. 

However, Vance called several members and reassured them the White House was serious about passing the full SAVE America Act, not a watered-down, optional version, the senior House staffer told the Daily Signal. 

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Vance also held a private meeting with members on July 15 to answer their questions about the bill. 

According to Main Street Caucus Chair Mike Flood, R-Neb., White House Office of Legislative Counsel Director James Braid was responsible for helping the House understand the vision behind the reconciliation push. Braid spoke at the Main Street member meeting last Monday.

“The White House did their job, our leadership did their job, and the caucuses did their job,” he said. 

Originally, the reconciliation 3.0 bill was supposed to fund the Iran war and cut wasteful spending to pay for it. However, Braid explained that this couldn’t pass the Senate, so the direction of the bill needed to be adjusted. 

“We had to write a bill that would be tough to turn down in the Senate, and if we made it complicated,” Flood said, “I have no doubt that it would just lay on the Senate floor and go nowhere.”

Flood doesn’t think the bill could have passed without the White House’s involvement. He says the House “couldn’t have had a better week.”

“I don’t think this would have gotten off the ground in the House without the White House’s involvement,” he said. “Every time they choose to provide leadership on something this big, it makes the process work a lot better, especially when you’ve got 220 different ideas about how to approach it.”

Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., told the Daily Signal there has been “no daylight” between the White House and Congress on passing a reconciliation 3.0 package in which the SAVE America Act remains intact.

“President Trump and Vice President Vance were integral to the House successfully taking the first step by passing a budget resolution that strengthens both our election integrity and our national defense,” he said. “Now the American people are counting on the Senate to do their part, just as the House has done, so Congress can continue working through this process in a timely manner.”

Now, President Donald Trump is urging the Senate to quickly complete the job.

“I am asking that the Senate adopt a Budget Resolution, which can pass with a simple Majority, before leaving for the August recess,” Trump said on Truth Social Friday. “We are ready to work side-by-side with the Senate to get this done for the American People!”