Current status (as of August 2026): H.R. 7296 was referred to the House Committee on House Administration on January 30, 2026, and remains in committee. The bill itself has not received a hearing, a markup, or a floor vote; its latest recorded action reads, verbatim: "Referred to the House Committee on House Administration." The House has, however, passed a version of the SAVE America Act's text by other means: on February 11, 2026, it adopted the text as a substitute amendment to an unrelated Senate bill, S. 1383, and passed that measure 218–213 (Roll no. 69); S. 1383 is pending in the Senate. (It should not be confused with the separate SAVE Act, H.R. 22, discussed below.)

Since then the House has attached the same text to a second vehicle. Section 11 of H. Res. 1438 — the rule the House adopted 214–211 on July 21, 2026 (Roll no. 254), after an earlier rule for the same bill failed 198–224 on June 30 — directs the Clerk, in the engrossment of H.R. 8800, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027, to "add the text of S. 1383, as passed by the House, as new matter at the end of H.R. 8800." That is the version of S. 1383 the House passed on February 11 with the SAVE America Act text substituted in. The House passed H.R. 8800 the next day, 216–212 (Roll no. 278). As of August 27, 2026, Congress.gov records no Senate action on H.R. 8800, and S. 1383's latest recorded action remains "Considered by Senate (Message from the House considered)" on March 26, 2026.

H.R. 7296, the SAVE America Act — formally the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act — is a House bill that would require individuals to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote, and to present photo identification in order to vote, in federal elections. It was introduced by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX-21) on January 30, 2026, with 111 cosponsors, all Republicans. This page tracks where the bill stands; when LegislationPatch publishes a full analysis of H.R. 7296, it will be linked here.

Where H.R. 7296 Stands

The bill is at the committee-referral stage, assigned to the House Committee on House Administration. As of August 2026 it had 111 cosponsors, all Republicans, and no committee or floor action beyond referral. A companion measure was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).

How It Differs From the SAVE Act (H.R. 22)

Two separate bills in the 119th Congress carry the title "Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act," and they are easy to confuse:

  • The SAVE Act (H.R. 22) requires documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. It advanced further procedurally: it passed the House and was received in the Senate on April 10, 2025. LegislationPatch has a separate analysis of H.R. 22.
  • The SAVE America Act (H.R. 7296) keeps that proof-of-citizenship registration requirement and adds a requirement to present photo identification in order to vote, plus identification requirements for absentee ballots. It remains in committee.

In short, the SAVE America Act is the broader of the two: it layers a voter-ID-to-cast-a-ballot requirement on top of the proof-of-citizenship-to-register requirement.

What the Bill Would Require

Under the bill's text, H.R. 7296 would, among other things:

  • Require documentary proof of citizenship to register. States could not accept or process a federal voter-registration application unless the applicant presents documentary proof of U.S. citizenship; the bill specifies acceptable documents, such as identification that complies with the REAL ID Act of 2005 and indicates U.S. citizenship, and requires states to establish an alternative process to demonstrate citizenship.
  • Require ongoing list maintenance. States would have to take affirmative, ongoing steps to ensure only U.S. citizens are registered, including a program to identify noncitizens using specified information sources, and to remove noncitizens from voter rolls.
  • Require photo ID to vote. Individuals voting in federal elections would have to present an eligible photo identification document; absentee voters would have to submit a copy of that document with both the request for, and the return of, an absentee ballot.
  • Add enforcement provisions. The bill provides a private right of action for certain violations and establishes criminal penalties for certain offenses.

What Happens Next

Because the bill is in committee, the next procedural step would be action by the House Committee on House Administration — a hearing and markup — before it could be reported and scheduled for a floor vote. To become law, it would need to pass the House, pass the Senate, and be signed by the President. For the broader path, see how a bill becomes law and what a congressional committee is.

The bill's own path and its text's path have separated. H.R. 7296 is still at the first step. The SAVE America Act language is already before the Senate in one measure and attached to a second: the House amendment to S. 1383, and the engrossment of H.R. 8800. On S. 1383 the Senate has taken procedural votes without resolving the House message — cloture was not invoked on a motion tied to it, 41–49, on March 21, 2026 (Record Vote 61), and two motions to table related motions were agreed to, 53–47 each, on March 24, 2026 (Record Votes 67 and 68). Neither vehicle has been enacted: Congress.gov lists no law for S. 1383, and no Senate action on H.R. 8800.

Who Supports the SAVE America Act, Who Opposes It, and Why

H.R. 7296 sits in committee with no recorded vote, and its 111 cosponsors are all Republicans. Much of the argument record concerns the underlying policy — documentary proof of citizenship to register and photo ID to vote — and its close relative the SAVE Act (H.R. 22), which passed the House. The positions below are drawn from that record and identified by who holds them. Voting by noncitizens in federal elections is already prohibited under federal law; the dispute is over what additional documentation should be required, and at what cost.

Why do supporters back the bill?

Sponsor Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) and the Senate companion's authors, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), argue that requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register, and photo ID to cast a ballot, would make federal elections more secure. Sen. Cornyn said the measure "requires an individual to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote as well as a photo ID before casting a ballot to ensure our elections are secure and solely determined by American citizens." Announcing the bill, Rep. Roy and Sen. Lee said, "President Trump rightly believes we should include Voter ID in this bill as we make a renewed push to secure our elections and protect the rights of American voters." On why the sponsors say the requirements are needed, their announcement says "at least 10 million illegal aliens poured into communities nationwide" under the prior administration, and argues that in many states such individuals are eligible for driver's licenses, which it says provides "ample opportunities to illegally register to vote in Federal elections"; it adds that in some jurisdictions noncitizens are able to vote in local elections. The announcement also argues that "Federal law has generally preempted and undermined state laws requiring proof of citizenship" to register, casting the bill as a federal fix, and Cornyn's office says Texas "already requires individuals to present a photo ID to vote" and that the bill would push other states to follow that example.

Why do opponents object?

The Brennan Center for Justice argues that documentary proof-of-citizenship requirements would keep more eligible citizens from registering than they would stop ineligible ones. The Brennan Center says more than 9 percent of voting-age citizens — about 21.3 million people — lack ready access to documents such as a passport, birth certificate, or naturalization papers, and that voters who have changed their names, "most notably, married women," can be blocked when a citizenship document no longer matches their current name. The Brennan Center adds that the bill's fallback option for citizens who cannot produce documents is "vague and severely undercut" by a provision "making it a crime for election officials to register any applicant who does not" present documentary proof, which it says would leave officials wary of registering such voters. The photo-ID half of the bill draws separate objections: in a February 2026 analysis addressing the SAVE America Act, the Brennan Center argues its list of acceptable IDs is "more restrictive than the voter ID laws in every state but Ohio," that it "prohibits the use of student IDs (even those issued by state universities)," and that it accepts tribal IDs only with an expiration date, which the Brennan Center says many tribal IDs do not carry. The Brennan Center also argues that the problem the bill targets is already rare, contending noncitizen voting is "vanishingly rare," citing a 2017 review of the 2016 election that found roughly 30 suspected noncitizen votes out of 23.5 million cast in the jurisdictions studied. On that basis, the Brennan Center argues the documentary burden is disproportionate to how rarely the conduct occurs. The Brennan Center also argues the bill's list-maintenance approach would have states "hand their voter rolls to the Department of Homeland Security" to run through a federal citizenship-verification tool it calls flawed. And it cites Arizona and Kansas, where it says similar requirements "blocked tens of thousands of citizens from registering" and where one such law was "struck down as unconstitutional." H.R. 7296 itself has not been voted on; the closest recorded test of the policy came on February 11, 2026, when the House passed the SAVE America Act's text as an amendment to S. 1383 by a closely divided 218–213.

Where the text stands now

Since that February vote, the same text was ordered added to the engrossment of the FY2027 defense authorization bill, H.R. 8800, by Section 11 of the rule the House adopted 214–211 on July 21, 2026 (Roll no. 254). The House passed H.R. 8800 itself 216–212 the next day (Roll no. 278). Both were recorded roll-call votes on the measure as a whole — the rule vote on all of H. Res. 1438, Section 11 included, and the passage vote on all of H.R. 8800 — and neither was a separate vote on the SAVE America Act text.

Primary Sources

Drafted from primary source documents by LegislationPatch's automated research pipeline, then reviewed, verified, and edited by , Editor. Every figure and citation is checked against the official text before publication. See our editorial standards and AI disclosure.