House advances SAVE America Act, stock trading ban and shutdown bill
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The late Sen. John Warner, R-Va., once told me: “We don’t do much in Congress. But when we do, we do it all at once.”
This is how we find the House of Representatives today.
Today is the penultimate day before the August recess in Parliament. In fact, the Parliament may not be here until after the election.
That’s why the Parliament is trying to fit EVERYTHING into today.
HOUSE GOP VOTE TO HAVE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN BATTLE AFTER NOVEMBER MIDTERMS
The Capitol is seen in Washington on Friday morning, December 14, 2018, after Congress adjourned until next week. Congress is racing to prevent a partial government shutdown at President Donald Trump’s border. But you can’t know that based on the program. MPs are away until next week. Both sides say the ball is in Trump’s court. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Let’s start with the resolution the council approved late last night. He approved a temporary spending bill in October, restoring all funding at current levels to avoid a fall shutdown. The bill will be valid until December 4.
Fiscal conservatives like the bill because it “sort of” saves money by replacing existing spending. By their very nature, these temporary bills do just that. They do not add new expenses. So – in a way – he holds this kind of financial picture.
But it is the cornerstone of the GOP’s agenda that looms over everything else. This is the SAVE America Act. The House plans to develop a budget framework today and include the RECOVER America Act going forward in the future. The Senate needs to adopt the same framework so it can use the special budget reconciliation process, which is immune to filibusters. But the House and Senate cannot get to the meat-and-potatoes of the bill without adopting the framework. That’s why today is so important.
What’s in “Reconciliation 3.0”? House Republicans will likely include the SAVE America Act in the actual bill. They will also foot the bill with tens of billions of dollars to cover the war in Iran and restock the Pentagon with munitions. Money for agricultural programs will also be there.
Senate plans to permanently end government shutdowns under bipartisan pressure
Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La. and Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., attend a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, June 30, 2026. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
But here’s the thing. House and Senate Republicans disagree. Senate Majority Leader RS.D. John Thune said he would likely consider the government funding plan the legislature approved. However, this requires 60 votes and is subject to fraud. Most Democrats will reject the House’s interim spending plan because they were not involved in drafting the bill.
But this is where Reconciliation 3.0 comes into play.
When pressed by your resolution yesterday, Thune said, “Frankly, we will accept it provided we can move a continuing resolution to fund the government. That is a possibility, if necessary we can withdraw the budget resolution passed by the House and use it to fund the government.”
In other words, the Senate won’t be taking up the House’s Reconciliation 3.0 plan anytime soon. Most Senate Republicans were cool to another compromise plan from the beginning. But Thune knows Senate Democrats will oppose the House’s stopgap spending bill. So he could use the compromise package to bypass Democrats and fund the government this fall.
Remember that compromise is NOT subject to filibuster. Therefore, 60 votes are unnecessary.
TRUMP INTERFERES AS HOME GOP REBELLION PUTS THE SAVE AMERICA ACT AT THE CENTER OF THE SPENDING DEBATE
But this is Thune’s sort of negotiating tactic. He knows Democrats don’t want Republicans to pass their spending plan through budget reconciliation. He also believes that using compromise to pass appropriations bills to keep the government open is a bad precedent. So he’ll keep the ball for now.
This means money needed to supplement depleted programs and cover the costs of the war in Iran has been withheld for months. It could be at least until December. This could be a problem for the Pentagon if the conflict continues.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R.S.D.) speaks at a Senate Republican press conference at the U.S. Capitol on June 2, 2026, flanked by Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla. and You. Shelley Moore Capito, RW.Va. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc)
Finally, the House plans to vote today on a separate bill that would ban its members from trading in stocks. 14 years ago, Congress passed the Stock Exchange Act and President Obama signed it into law. This law prohibits lawmakers and their aides from using “insider information” gathered on the job to manipulate the market.
But today’s bill goes one step further. It expressly prohibits members of the House from trading stocks.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) opposes this version of the bill. Because he wants the share ban to be applied to the entire government. But that is not the issue the House is prepared to consider today.
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So this is a particularly challenging day for this Parliament. Money for the Iran war and the SAVE America Act hang in the balance.
If you want to understand what Congress might face this fall, today’s action will give you a clue.
