With a potential government shutdown looming in less than two weeks, the Republican-controlled House rejected on Wednesday a six-month spending measure combined with reforms meant to help prevent non-citizens from voting in federal elections.
A total of 220 members, including 14 Republicans and 206 Democrats, voted against the proposal backed by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). Another 202 members, including 199 Republicans and three Democrats, voted in favor of it. Two other GOP members voted “present.” Seven lawmakers did not vote.
The proposal included a continuing resolution (CR) through March 28 and the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which aims to require that 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.
House lawmakers passed the SAVE Act in July with some bipartisan support, but it never got taken up by the Democrat-led Senate. Critics of the SAVE Act claim it is unnecessary and would create an undue burden on legitimate voters, but proponents argue it would go a long way toward shoring up election security.
Johnson released a report in June that warned of a National Voter Registration Act “loophole” in which states do not ask for proof of citizenship when registering an individual to vote in federal elections and cited evidence of non-citizens appearing on voter rolls in places such as Massachusetts, Ohio, and Virginia.
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“Congress has an immediate obligation to do two things: responsibly fund the federal government and ensure the security of our elections,” Johnson said this week, while also encouraging his colleagues to listen to the “overwhelming majority” of Americans who do not want non-citizens voting in U.S. elections.
Johnson scheduled a vote on the CR and SAVE Act for Wednesday after he pulled the proposal from the House floor last week when it appeared to lack enough support. The speaker said he was committed to “consensus building” through the weekend.
But some Republicans simply did not want to pass another CR. “Just in case it’s not clear already, I’m a HARD NO on today’s CR,” Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT) said in a post to X on Wednesday. “The solution? Pass all 12 Appropriations bills.”
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Even if the proposal managed to pass the House, it faced long odds in the Senate, where Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said, “We will not let poison pills or Republican extremism put funding for critical programs at risk.” And President Joe Biden threatened a veto if the House GOP plan reached his desk.
Former President Donald Trump, who is again running for the White House this year as the GOP nominee, said on Truth Social not long before the House vote on Wednesday that Republicans should “not agree to a Continuing Resolution in any way, shape, or form” if they “don’t get the SAVE Act, and every ounce of it.”
Lawmakers in the House and Senate are quickly running out of time to reach a deal to fund the various federal agencies for the coming fiscal year. A government shutdown could happen by the beginning of October — just weeks before a presidential election — if they fail to come to an agreement by the end of this month.
