How Mike Lee found himself at the center of this week’s funding fight

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Getting a spending bill through Congress is never easy, and this week was no different. Despite having a compromise package that passed the Senate on a bipartisan vote, the House still struggled to pass the bill this week, requiring much wrangling and last-minute negotiations.

And somehow Senator Mike Lee was at the center of it all, even though he wasn’t part of the House of Representatives.

That’s because of Lee’s SAVE Act, now the SAVE America Act, which proposes to add stricter requirements, including proof of citizenship, for voting in federal elections. The legislation has been around for several years and has even passed the House a few times.

But it never received a vote in the Senate, where 60 votes would be needed to overcome the filibuster, meaning at least seven Democrats would need to join Republicans to advance it. Spoiler alert: They’re not interested in that.

This has frustrated Lee over the past few months, prompting him to launch an online pressure campaign to use alternative filibuster rules to pass the law.

But that campaign really gained momentum after a handful of House Republicans threatened to vote against the latest spending package to reopen the government unless the Senate scheduled a vote on Lee’s bill. Note that House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., can only afford to lose one Republican on any given vote.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., led the charge, declaring several times on social media that she would shut down the House until the SAVINGS Act was considered in the Senate. Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn. Other Republicans have said they would do the same.

Since then, the SAVINGS Act has grown rapidly in public interest. It became one of the most researched bills according to Congress.govand nearly every Republican senator signed on as a co-sponsor. (18 of them signed in January alone.)

Luna ended up voting in favor of the spending package ending the shutdown after traveling to the White House for a meeting Monday evening. During that meeting, Luna said he was “assured” by the White House to get votes on the SAVINGS Act through the constant filibuster — exactly what Lee wanted.

The only problem with this was that no one else seemed to know this quote.

In fact, some Republicans I spoke to who were deeply involved in the SAVE Act negotiations told me that Luna’s announcement was shocking to them and that they knew a decision on using alternative filibuster rules had not yet been made by Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

“As you know, we have some members who have expressed interest in this, so we’ll talk about it,” Thune told reporters this week that no decision had been made.

Luna said his discussions were with the White House, not Thune, so he believes the agreement is still in effect. In both cases, Luna voted to advance the financing package.

But that didn’t stop some Republicans from threatening to kill the bill in the House this week; That includes Rep. John Rose of Tennessee, who had to be cornered by GOP leadership for more than 30 minutes to change his vote. He explained that the first “no” vote was an act of protest aimed at the passage of the SAVINGS Act in the Senate. But in the end he changed the vote so that the package could pass.

Lee told me he was “very happy” to see such enthusiasm for the election security bill.

“There are people on both ends of the Capitol who support this and are even researching the rules of the other chamber,” Lee said. “That was encouraging.”

You can find more of my reporting on the subject this week here and here. In summary: Don’t expect this to go away; We’ll likely see more action, and perhaps drama, over the SAVINGS Act in the coming weeks.

In fact, the latest iteration of the SAVE Act, called the SAVE America Act, a new name promoted by President Donald Trump, will be voted on in the House next week. Will it get votes in the Senate?

Stories That Drive the Week

1. Shutdown over: President Donald Trump signed a $1.2 trillion spending package Tuesday to reopen the government and temporarily fund the Department of Homeland Security, ending a four-day partial shutdown. Now Congress has just 10 days to negotiate the DHS portion.

2. Towards the exits: Nearly 50% of local election officials in Western states left their jobs between November 2020 and November 2025, often in the middle of their terms, according to a new analysis from Issue One, a nonprofit political advocacy organization. That number was especially high in Utah, which ranked fourth among 11 Western states included in the study.

3. Money money money: Former Rep. Ben McAdams raised the most money last year compared to other Democratic candidates running in Utah’s newly realigned 1st Congressional District, according to campaign finance records filed with the Federal Election Commission last month.

ICE interviews have begun. But nobody knows who to talk to

Lawmakers have just a week to hammer some kind of spending deal through Congress before funding for the Department of Homeland Security runs out.

It is claimed that negotiations have begun, but it does not appear that the two sides are actually talking to each other. Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala) has been tasked with leading those talks on the Republican side of the Senate, but she says she hasn’t heard anything from her Democratic counterparts other than what they’ve posted on social media.

“Unfortunately, you know, we’ve seen some things on social media and in press conferences,” Britt said. “If you’re going to have a real conversation, you have to have a real conversation.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R.S.D.) said Britt reached out to Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-Y.) but it was “crickets.”

But Democrats also say they haven’t heard anything.

Sen. Chris Murphy, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee negotiating DHS funding, said talks between the parties have not yet begun.

“We’ll definitely sit down. I’ve never heard him say anything like that,” Murphy said Thursday in response to questions about Britt’s lack of return of calls. “We haven’t been negotiating for weeks, so I think we can get to a product, but they need to stop drawing public red lines.”

Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (DY) released their official list of demands Wednesday night, which includes some of the red lines they want: mask mandates, mandatory body cameras, distinctive identification and more.

Many of these have already been deemed failures by Republicans. However, this should serve as a starting point for both parties to reach an agreement. Theoretically. We’ll see if they can actually do this before the deadline.

Thune has previously said they may need another temporary extension to buy time and may even have to cancel the Senate’s Presidents Day recess to continue negotiations.

As House Speaker Mike Johnson always says: “Stay tuned.”

quick hits

From the top: Rep. Blake Moore has a new plan to close the budget deficit. … Utah Sens. Mike Lee and John Curtis have different views on the Senate filibuster. … Confidence is waning as ICE reform negotiations in Congress are off to a bumpy start.

From the White House: DHS Secretary Kristi Noem faces local backlash during visit to Phoenix. … Trump’s approval is falling after a month of ICE activity in Minnesota.

From the courts: The court gave the maximum sentence to the assassination attempt on Trump. … This landmark decision could change the future of gender-related treatments for minors. …The death penalty for Luigi Mangione was lifted.

what’s next

The House of Representatives and the Senate will be in session next week. The deadline for Department of Homeland Security funding is midnight Friday.

As always, feel free to email me with your story ideas or questions for lawmakers. And follow me on x For breaking news and current developments from the Hill.