House Passes SAVE Act via Must-Pass NDAA 217-209 While the EAC That Would Administer It Is Headless

House Republicans passed the SAVE America Act 217-209 on July 22, 2026 by attaching it to the must-pass FY2027 National Defense Authorization Act — requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register for federal elections and photo ID to vote, with six Democrats crossing over. The bill moves to the Senate. The Election Assistance Commission, the body that would administer any implementation, has been without a quorum since Trump fired all remaining commissioners on July 9 (2026-07-09–trump-purges-election-assistance-commission-save-act-backdoor, 2026-07-10–trump-fires-eac-commissioners-hicks-hovland-after-humphreys-executor).

This is a distinct legislative stage from the June 30 Senate death of the same bill’s prior NDAA-attachment attempt (2026-06-30–save-act-dies-in-senate-ndaa-state-citizenship-proof-laws-spread) — the same must-pass-bill strategy revived and passed in the House a second time, now heading to a Senate that killed the identical maneuver three weeks earlier. That the administering agency has no confirmed leadership at the moment its own signature legislation clears the House underscores that implementation capacity, not just legislative passage, has become the binding constraint on this entire push.