Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) signaled on Sunday that he would not allow the upper chamber to consider a short-term spending measure that is combined with an election integrity bill, setting up a clash with the GOP-led House that has pushed for reforms to shore up security of the voting process with regard to noncitizens.
In a letter to colleagues, Schumer previewed what the Senate will be working on over the next few weeks now that lawmakers are returning to Washington, D.C., following the summer recess, and warned that a government shutdown could happen this fall without Congress reaching a deal for an extension to fund the various federal agencies by the end of September.
“We all know what is at stake: crucial funding for health care, infrastructure, education, food safety, veterans, border security, U.S. competitiveness and more,” Schumer said, adding that Democrats “support” a continuing resolution to keep the government open as long as it does not include any partisan add-ons.
“As I have said before, the only way to get things done is in a bipartisan way,” Schumer said. “Despite Republican bluster, that is how we’ve handled every funding bill in the past, and this time should be no exception. We will not let poison pills or Republican extremism put funding for critical programs at risk.”
Last week, House GOP leaders revealed their version of a continuing resolution, which would provide funding for the federal government through March 28, combined with the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, a bill which aims to require individuals show proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in elections for federal office and pushes states to remove non-citizens from voter rolls.
While at least a couple House Republicans indicated they oppose the latest GOP gambit, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) — who released a document earlier this year that warned of a National Voter Registration Act “loophole” and cited evidence of noncitizens on voter rolls in various states — said the combination of the continuing resolution and the SAVE Act “has a lot of merit,” a source told The Hill.
Schumer released a joint statement with Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-WA) in response to the proposal, declaring, “As we have said repeatedly, avoiding a government shutdown requires bipartisanship, not a bill drawn up by one party. … If Speaker Johnson drives House Republicans down this highly partisan path, the odds of a shutdown go way up.”
The lower chamber already passed the SAVE Act as a standalone bill in July with some bipartisan support. However, the Democrat-controlled Senate has refused to take it up for consideration and the Biden administration signaled its opposition to the election integrity bill. Some critics have argued that the legislation is unnecessary and would create an undue burden on legitimate voters.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), who is running to become leader of the Senate GOP, responded to Schumer’s letter on Sunday by saying the top Democrat “thinks that preventing illegal immigrants from voting is ‘Republican extremism.’ That means that every Democrat supports allowing illegal immigrants to vote. This is insane, a threat to democracy and must be fixed by passing the SAVE Act.”
Axios reported on Sunday that Democrats in Congress and the White House are pushing for a short-term spending measure through mid-December — three months shorter than the House version — to avoid giving Vice President Kamala Harris a “tight deadline” to get the government funded in the first couple months of her first term if she wins the presidential election.
House conservatives, who failed to get border reforms linked to a short-term spending bill earlier this year, have insisted any new continuing resolution should extend into early next year to “ensure Democrats cannot undermine” a prospective second term for former President Donald Trump with a December omnibus. And they said they wanted the SAVE Act attached to it.
