Zincwarrior
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Congress is once again running up against a spending limit. Shenanigans ensue. Will government get shut down just in time for the election? Stay tuned to our next episode of As the Stomach Turns!
A conservative-backed push for stricter proof-of-citizenship requirements for voting could complicate efforts to avert a government shutdown next month.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have acknowledged a stopgap of some kind, also known as a continuing resolution (CR), will be necessary to keep the government funded past Sept. 30.
But calls are growing among House conservatives to use that must-pass measure to force consideration of a partisan bill aimed at barring noncitizens from voting — laying the groundwork for a clash with the Democratic-led Senate, which would likely reject such a package.
The hard-line conservative House Freedom Caucus took an official position this month urging Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to attach the measure, dubbed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, to spending legislation next month.
Since then, the GOP conference’s right flank has only ramped up public calls for the move, which has also seen some pickup in the upper chamber and among prominent figures such as tech mogul Elon Musk, as the party looks to seize on immigration as a key campaign issue ahead of November.
Deciding which approach to take on spending will be one of the most important decisions Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) makes before the end of the year, with implications not only for government funding but for whether he can keep the support he needs to lead the House GOP next year.
Johnson has not dismissed the idea of attaching the SAVE Act, introduced by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), saying on a press call last week that discussions are ongoing to “build consensus to come up with the final decision.”
“I can verify for you that the SAVE Act is a big part of this conversation,” Johnson also said. “And it is not just the Freedom Caucus — it is members across the conference who share the same concern that we do about this. And we believe it’s one of the — perhaps the most urgent issue, the most imminent threat facing the country, is the integrity of this election cycle.”
At the same time, however, Axios reported that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) office has been privately pushing against attaching the bill to a stopgap measure next month.