With a continuing resolution (CR) likely needed to avert a government shutdown next month, some House conservatives see an opportunity to push a bill aimed at barring noncitizens from voting.
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which ensures that only U.S. citizens vote in elections by requiring proof of citizenship, passed the House with five Democrats joining GOP members in voting for it. The legislation, though, likely would not pass the Democrat-led Senate.
Even staffers for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have been working behind the scenes to get House conservatives to drop their demands that a CR include an immigrant voting crackdown, Axios reported.
McConnell's office argues that adding a non-citizen voting bill would backfire, and could motivate Democrats to tack on their own voting-related legislation.
Still, calls are growing among House conservatives to use the CR to force consideration of the SAVE bill, The Hill reported.
House Freedom Caucus members such as Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, Scott Perry, R-Pa., and Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., have posted on X that a CR to avoid a shutdown must include the SAVE Act.
"Radical progressive Democrats WANT this. We need to FORCE [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer AND McConnell to take up the SAVE Act. Tie it to any spending we send over and tell the Senate we shouldn't fund a government that doesn't check citizenship to vote. Period," wrote Roy, who introduced the SAVE Act.
Republicans and Democrats have acknowledged stopgap legislation of some kind will be necessary to keep the government funded past Sept. 30.
"I can verify for you that the SAVE Act is a big part of this conversation," Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said, The Hill reported. "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."
How Johnson handles the situation involving a CR and the Save Act could go a long way in determining whether he's able to retain enough conservative support to remain speaker.