The House advanced measures to restrict voting on Wednesday, approving a $95 billion budget framework that includes $10 billion in election-related grants over a decade to incentivize states to adopt voter ID and citizenship verification requirements like those in the SAVE Act. The budget resolution passed 216-214, moving closer to what President Trump has called his top legislative priority.
The House also passed the Stop Insider Trading Act 232-198, with 13 Democrats joining Republicans in support. But Republicans attached an unrelated voter ID provision to the bill, prompting Democratic criticism that the measure was a “Trojan horse” designed to restrict ballot access while claiming to address congressional ethics.
The Reconciliation Strategy and Senate Obstacles
The budget framework unlocks the reconciliation process, which allows Senate Republicans to bypass the filibuster’s 60-vote threshold and pass legislation with a simple majority, according to Democracy Docket. However, significant obstacles remain for the SAVE Act itself to become law.
The Senate parliamentarian ruled last month that SAVE America provisions did not qualify as budgetary matters under reconciliation rules, according to Democracy Docket. Even if the new provisions survive procedural challenges, the last time the Senate voted on the SAVE America Act, four Republicans voted against it, meaning it failed to receive even a simple majority’s support, Democracy Docket reported.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune has downplayed the proposal’s prospects amid legislative strategy differences with Speaker Mike Johnson. Despite Republican control of the Senate, Trump is unlikely to see any version of the SAVE Act enacted before the midterm elections in November, according to Democracy Docket.
The Stock Trading Bill Strategy
The Stop Insider Trading Act would prevent members of Congress and their families from purchasing individual stocks, a proposal popular with both Democrats and voters. However, Republicans attached a voter ID requirement to the bill ahead of the floor vote, drawing sharp criticism.
“This bill is a Trojan horse,” Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) said in a press release. “Instead of a good-faith effort to end congressional stock trading, Republicans are using it to advance a broader effort to restrict access to the ballot box.”
Democrats also attacked the stock trading limitations as riddled with loopholes—lawmakers can keep individual stocks they already own, allowing them to vote in those companies’ favor. The bill has dim prospects in the Senate, where committees have advanced their own stronger bipartisan anti-insider trading proposal but leadership has let it languish without a floor vote, according to Democracy Docket.
Sources
- Democracy Docket — House passage of budget reconciliation framework and Stop Insider Trading Act with voter ID provision, reconciliation process details, Senate parliamentarian ruling, Republican Senate votes on SAVE Act, and Senate leadership prospects
- The Hill — House passage of reconciliation framework with Pentagon funding and voting restrictions
- Politico — Stock trading bill passage and Senate prospects
