Mark Harris

House Republicans should continue advancing appropriations bills while President Donald Trump presses the Senate to pass the SAVE America Act, Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., said Friday, arguing that congressional frustration should not derail the House's legislative agenda.

Harris made the comments during an interview with “Wake Up America” after Trump met with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., as Republicans worked to resolve a standoff that has stalled House business.

Several conservative lawmakers, led by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., have blocked procedural votes in an effort to pressure the Senate into taking up the SAVE America Act, a GOP-backed election integrity measure strongly supported by Trump.

During the interview, Harris noted the growing frustration among Republicans.

"You're exactly right. There is great concern, there's great frustration, there’s great anger that seems to be erupting here on Capitol Hill at the fact that the Senate has not done their job and move the SAVE America Act, something that is supported by Republicans and Democrats alike, actually, in high percentage, maybe 75% of Democrats and 85% or 90% of Republicans support the SAVE America Act."

While Harris said lawmakers have legitimate reasons to be frustrated, he argued shutting down House business is counterproductive.

"So that frustration is there. It is very frustrating, though, for us to stop business in the House," Harris said. "I think the speaker was trying to get the president to urge all of our colleagues to realize we've got work to do."

Harris said one of his priorities since arriving in Congress has been restoring "regular order" by passing annual appropriations bills individually rather than relying on year-end continuing resolutions.

"One of the reasons I came to Congress was because I believe that we needed to get back to regular order, and I believe we needed to pass appropriation bills and try to avoid getting to the end of the year and then having to just do a CR, but that we could actually move appropriation bills," he said. "We're in the midst of that."

He said Republican opposition to procedural rules prevented the House from considering an appropriations bill this week.

"This week, because there seem to be that hesitation to move forward on a rule so that we could have moved an appropriation bill, we just were not able to do that," Harris said.

Trump publicly called on House Republicans to stop blocking rules votes after meeting with Johnson, writing on Truth Social that lawmakers should "unify" and "stop voting down rules."

Harris said the president has made clear that passage of the SAVE America Act remains his top legislative priority while expecting House Republicans to continue their work.

"The president making it clear that Republicans in the House have got to keep doing their business and doing their work," Harris said. "He's going to keep putting pressure on the Senate."

He noted Trump recently delayed signing a bipartisan housing package, saying election legislation was more important.

"Housing bill was a perfect example, something that the president said, as important as the housing bill is, it pales in comparison," Harris said. "He even said FISA paled in comparison to the SAVE America Act. The president has drawn a line in the sand."

"It's important, and it's something we need to get done. The Senate needs to get it done. But as the House is concerned, we need to be taking care of our business right now. And I think it's important that we all unite."

Harris said he expects Trump ultimately to sign the bipartisan housing bill within the constitutional 10-day review period, although he criticized Senate changes to the legislation.

"I do think that the president will end up signing it," Harris said. "It was bipartisan. I mean, look, there were a lot of things I was in favor of in the House version. It went over to the Senate. The Senate messed around with it. They stripped out a lot of the good features that we had in the House version. And it became much more of the Elizabeth Warren show."

If Trump instead vetoes the bill, Harris said he would oppose an override because he voted against the Senate-amended version.

"No, I would not vote to override it," Harris said.

Instead, he suggested House Republicans could combine the housing legislation with the SAVE America Act before sending it back to the Senate.

"What would be beautiful is if he decides to veto it, we take it back up in the House, have our version, but attach the Save America Act to it and send it over to the House," Harris said. "Maybe we just attach the Save America Act to it and then send it back over to the Senate and see what they do with it."