Johnson confident housing bill will become law with or without Trump’s signature

“I said, ‘Mr. President, we can walk and chew gum at the same time,’” Johnson said of his conversation with Trump on Monday. The House leader said the GOP-controlled chamber would continue pushing the president’s voting legislation while allowing the already approved housing measure to move through the constitutional process.

Trump has 10 days to either sign the legislation or veto it, but Johnson said the president would not kill the landmark bill.

“He won’t veto the bill,” Johnson said. “We already know that. He’ll either allow it to just go into law, or he’ll put his signature on it and take partial ownership, and I hope he does the latter.”

Johnson has simultaneously worked to satisfy Trump’s demands to pass the SAVE America Act, but his colleagues have not exactly made it easy for him.

Last week, a group of Republicans led by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) staged a mutiny, vowing to vote against procedural measures to bring legislation to the House floor until the Senate passes the SAVE America Act.

Luna’s move followed Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) moving forward with the chamber’s July 4 recess. The SAVE America Act has passed the House multiple times but has not had an easy time in the Senate.

To advance the measure, Johnson found another legislative vehicle: the annual National Defense Authorization Act, one of Congress’s must-pass bills. Whether the defense bill reaches the House floor this week, however, remained uncertain as lawmakers continued negotiations over the broader bill.

“We’re going to pass a MIRV, or what’s better known as a merge, onto the rule, so what that means is when Republicans vote for the rule, they will be voting not just for the NDAA and everything else is there, but they’ll be voting to merge onto that the SAVE America Act that we passed back in February, so that will send both of those items together over to the Senate,” Johnson said Monday.

JOHNSON UNVEILS PLAN TO TIE SAVE AMERICA ACT TO ANNUAL DEFENSE BILL

Luna was not swayed by Johnson’s plan, as the Senate could still strip the SAVE America Act from the legislation.

“The only way to ensure the Senate passes this is to make sure it’s in the bill text of the NDAA, meaning that my amendment(s) must be made an order,” Luna said. “I’m not trying to be difficult, but this is what 80% of Americans want and what we promised the American people, so I stand by my decision.”