The House of Representatives voted down a bill that would have averted a government shutdown and stopped election officials in all 50 states from registering illegal immigrants or other foreigners from voting in U.S. elections.
The continuing resolution (CR) failed by a vote of 202-220 on Wednesday evening. The measure would have funded the federal programs past the impending October 1 government shutdown through March 28. It also contained the entire text of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would help assure only U.S. citizens vote in U.S. elections. The SAVE Act would require government officials to verify that anyone registering to vote is a U.S. citizen. If noncitizens vote in the same proportion as they did in the 2008 election, 1.5 to 2.7 million foreigners will vote in the 2024 presidential election, experts have told The Washington Stand.
“The goal is to put it on something that the Senate has to deal with,” said Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) on “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” shortly before the vote. “We couldn’t get a vote on that from the Senate. Now we’re at least saying, ‘As we have an election that’s going to be largely about how do we deal with the illegals that are here, let’s make sure that they can’t participate in this election.’”
House Republicans had hoped to avoid the glare of a government shutdown heading into the presidential election and extend funding after the inauguration, when they hope a new Senate Majority Leader — and a friendlier president — will steer away from free-spending policies that have raised interest payments on America’s $35 trillion national debt to more than $1 trillion for the first time in U.S. history. The Congressional Budget Office has forecast interest payments on the national debt will likely triple by 2033.
On the other hand, the “White House is plotting with Democratic leaders in Congress to try to force Republicans to accept” a three-month funding bill that would require lawmakers to return during the lame-duck session, reported Axios.com. At that time, Congressional Democrats would likely hope to pass as large and expansive a funding bill as possible, while they still control the White House and half of the Congress, ticking off a liberal spending wish list. For instance, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) sent a letter to Johnson this week insisting the CR “must include critical legislative provisions” sending more U.S. foreign aid to the corruption-riddled Ukrainian government of President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Democrats also steadfastly oppose the SAVE Act and other Republican-endorsed election integrity measures. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has cited the SAVE Act-inclusive CR as an example of “Republican extremism,” while Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) called the election integrity and bankruptcy aversion policies “poison pills.”
Former President Donald Trump signaled his eagerness to confront Democrats on the issue of illegal immigrants and other non-citizens voting in U.S. elections, backing a government shutdown if the Senate maintains its refusal to pass election safeguards. “If Republicans don’t get the SAVE Act, and every ounce of it, they should not agree to a Continuing Resolution in any way, shape, or form. Democrats are registering Illegal Voters by the TENS OF THOUSANDS, as we speak,” said the 45th president on social media about four hours before the vote. “They will be voting in the 2024 Presidential Election, and they shouldn’t be allowed to. Only American Citizens should be voting in our Most Important Election in History, or any Election! A Vote must happen BEFORE the Election, not AFTER the Election when it is too late. BE SMART, REPUBLICANS, YOU’VE BEEN PUSHED AROUND LONG ENOUGH BY THE DEMOCRATS. DON’T LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN. Remember, this is Biden/Harris’ fault, not yours!”
Trump’s opposition put the bill’s prime supporter, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.), “in a pickle,” said FRC Action President Tony Perkins.
“I don’t think that’s where we’re headed, and yes, I do think that would be a mistake heading into an election,” he said, calling on House Republicans to “make very clear” they will not accept a December, lame-duck omnibus bill.
Congress has not passed a budget on time since 1996, when it completed the final three spending bills just under the buzzer on September 30. Since then, the federal appropriations process has limped from one continuing resolution or omnibus bill to another, and stumbled through three government shutdowns in 2013, 2018, and 2019. In all, 527 of the 535 members of Congress have joined the body since 1996, never serving in a Congress that adopted a timely national budget according to regular order.
Congress has enacted an average of five continuing resolutions a year, every year, since 1998, including funding the entire fiscal years of 2007, 2011, and 2013 by CR, according to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. Johnson vowed to reinstate budget process norms at the outset of his speakership and has passed a number of the 12 appropriations bills making up the current budget. “We’re constitutionally required to do one thing, and that’s pass a dadgum budget. And for 30 years we’ve chosen not to do that,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), who voted against the bill, told The Washington Post.
In all, 14 Republicans voted against CR + SAVE, including Reps. Jim Banks of Indiana, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Cory Mills of Florida, Mike Rogers of Alabama, Matt Rosendale of Montana, and Greg Steube of Florida. Many said they opposed the resolution’s high spending levels and its continuation of the broken budget process. Two Republicans — Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Thomas Massie of Kentucky — voted present. Three vulnerable Democrats voted for the Republican-backed measure.
The Biden-Harris administration has never reduced COVID-era levels of federal spending, attempting to pass trillions more while pursing the “Build Back Better” agenda endorsed and advanced by Kamala Harris. “The CR is just a continuation of Nancy Pelosi and Charles E. Schumer’s spending. I don’t see that as being a route forward,” said Burchett. Massie denounced the CR as an “unserious and insincere” combination of “12 bills rolled into one bill that continues the profligate spending that’s ruining our country.”
But the bill’s supporters warned its defeat would only increase spending in a gargantuan, end-of-year appropriations bill Congress would rubber stamp in order to return home before the Christmas break. The SAVE Act’s sponsor, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), warned the continuing resolution’s defeat would result in “a lame duck continuing resolution before Christmas and walking away from” the SAVE Act. Lame duck sessions, held after the November election but before newly elected officials are sworn in, often allow defeated politicians to vote for high-spending legislation without the fear of accountability.
Johnson has expressed his desire to ratchet down the high spending levels worked out by his predecessor, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, in the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023. On Tuesday, Johnson outlined his priorities if Republicans sweep the 2024 elections, vowing to enact a new economic policy that “respects the dignity of work,” returns to American energy dominance, establishes school choice, holds “Woke college administrators responsible,” cuts government waste, and rescinds portions of the federal code that reward illegal immigration.
The vote came shortly after the Federal Reserve cut U.S. interest rates by 0.5%, the first rate cut since 2020.
Ben Johnson is senior reporter and editor at The Washington Stand.
