‘Sorely Needed’: Speaker Johnson May Attach SAVE Act to Govt. Funding Bill

Congressional Republicans say House leadership will likely attach a bill to prevent illegal immigrants from voting in U.S. elections — a bill Republicans say is necessary for the “protection of citizenship and our national sovereignty”— to a must-pass government funding bill as a precondition for avoiding a government shutdown. 

Multiple sources indicate Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) will add the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act to a continuing resolution, or CR, which Congress needs to pass before October 1 to avert a government shutdown. 

“I suspect you’re going to see a CR with the SAVE Act coming up in the next two to three weeks,” predicted Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) on “Washington Watch” Wednesday. “What the Speaker has discussed with us is a six-month continuing resolution. You and I both don’t love that,” Perry told the program’s guest host, former Congressman Jody Hice, “but that gets us into the Trump administration, God willing, if he were to prevail. But included with that would be attaching to that the SAVE Act, which requires states then to verify citizenship of every one of their voters. And that’s something that is sorely needed.”

Congressional Republicans see the bill as necessary to fix a loophole in federal law that may incentivize illegal immigrants to vote in U.S. elections. The SAVE Act amends the 1993 National Voter Registration Act (sometimes called the “Motor-Voter Law”), which stipulates that anyone who applies for a driver’s license must be offered the opportunity to register to vote. The form asks applicants to certify they are U.S. citizens, but a court ruling prevents officials from taking any steps to verify the applicant’s citizenship. The SAVE Act would require officials to assure the would-be voter’s U.S. citizenship before an illegal ballot gets cast. 

Democrats object to the law as unnecessary and redundant, saying existing laws already bar non-citizens from voting. But Republicans say the current landscape does nothing to prevent illegal immigrants from voting. “Of course, it’s already illegal for people that are here illegally to vote, but that’s not to say it doesn’t happen, because no one is enforcing it,” explained Perry. “This would require states to actually enforce the law.” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) wrote in an op-ed for Breitbart that Congress finds itself “in the historically unique position” of being able to leverage government funding for election security.

“Asking for proof of citizenship should not bother anyone. That’s the only way that we can protect the integrity of citizenship and the integrity of our elections,” Ken Blackwell, senior fellow for Human Rights and Constitutional Governance at Family Research Council, told Hice later in the show. “This is a situation that cries out for more … protection of citizenship and our national sovereignty.”

With just two months before the 2024 presidential election, Republicans see the election integrity bill, which has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, as pivotal. Speaker Johnson called the bill “a generation-defining moment” in U.S. civic history. “We see it as a potential game changer,” said Perry. “We just want our elections to be fair, but determined by American citizens. And the fact that the Democrats oppose that should tell you everything you need to know.” The bill has the support of conservatives in both houses of Congress. “This is where the House Freedom Caucus and I stand: While we oppose passing any CR, if it’s forced upon us, we will fight to ensure the SAVE Act is part of the deal. It’s time to hold the line and demand accountability, because secure elections should be non-negotiable,” said Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) in a statement emailed to The Washington Stand.

As concerns over illegal voting take center stage in Washington, the issue is winding its way through the nation’s courts, as well. On Wednesday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) sued Bexar County after its commissioners pressed forward with a plan to send mail-in ballots to all county residents, regardless of their eligibility or citizenship status. “This program is completely unlawful and potentially invites election fraud,” said Paxton. The move comes after Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) removed more than 1.1 million ineligible registrants — including 7,000 non-citizens — from the state’s voting rolls.

In neighboring Arizona, America First Legal sued all 15 county recorders for failing to remove illegal and ineligible voters from the system ahead of November’s election. The lawsuit contends that two provisions of federal law — 8 U.S.C. § 1373(c) and 8 U.S.C. § 1644 — allow state and local officials to obtain information about applicants’ citizenship, an authority which they have failed to use. “America First Legal will do everything in its power to fight mass illegal alien voting and foreign interference in our democracy,” said Stephen Miller, a former Trump aide.

The road ahead at the federal level is not without obstacles. Some in Washington oppose attaching the SAVE Act to the CR, and many House conservatives have expressed displeasure that the House must pass a CR rather than legislating discreet bills for each area of government. Two congressmen — Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) — have announced they will vote against the bill. Perry said the speaker’s solution is the most practical response. “We’re going to be left with a couple options: a continuing resolution, which keeps spending the same amount of money [and the] same policy until the deal is worked out, or an omnibus, which would be terribly written in Chuck Schumer’s office by his staff, spending wildly” and codifying “terrible policy,” said Perry.

Democrats in both chambers have gone all-out to oppose the measure. A meager five House Democrats voted for the SAVE Act in July, with 198 opposed. (The Democrats who voted in favor were Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez Jr. of Texas, Don Davis of North Carolina, Jared Golden of Maine, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington.)

Polls show the American people believe the Republicans have the better part of the argument. A whopping 87% of Americans support the bill’s goal of assuring only Americans vote in American elections. “I’m for those wanting a better life to get the opportunity to become a citizen the right way. But if you’re not American, you shouldn’t be voting. Simple as that,” said NFL great Brett Favre.

Despite overwhelming public support, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has pronounced any funding measure including the SAVE Act “dead on arrival.” And Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) called the bill’s election integrity measures “outrageous partisan poison pills.” 

“Chuck Schumer might say it’s dead on arrival,” but if the House passes the election integrity bill as part of the must-pass bill, the Democrat is “going to have no choice to either accept that, or he will be responsible for shutting down the government,” Perry told Hice. “If the government shuts down over the Democrats’ unholy obsession with noncitizen voting, that’s on Chuck Schumer,” said Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) in a social media post. Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.) made similar comments Wednesday during comments to the Republican Jewish Coalition.

“Sure would be a strange reason to shut down the U.S. government,” noted Elon Musk, who became a legal immigrant to the United States in 2002.

But Blackwell does not believe the bill will cause a stand-off in Congress. “By actually shining some spotlight on this challenge, I think that we can we can pull the curtain down on this illegal action,” said Blackwell, who oversaw Ohio’s elections as Secretary of State (1999-2007).

Nothing is more important to American political life than safeguarding the integrity of the ballot, he said. “Every vote counts. And so protecting the integrity of the system by making sure that there’s no illegal vote that cancels out a legal ballot is prudent. We cannot sit on the sidelines. Each citizen of the United States has to demand this integrity, has to demand this sort of transparency, has to get involved. And we must continue to make sure that we have as many people as observers and workers at the polling places as possible at the precinct level.”

“We should not have a polling place in America that is not covered by two sets of eyes, bipartisan sets of eyes, so that we have transparency. So, make sure you go to your local party, go to your local county office, and ask how you can become involved as a worker or an observer,” he exhorted.

“We cannot let darkness prevail in this election,” Blackwell concluded.