Republican lawmakers are pushing to attach an election integrity bill to a continuing resolution that would have to be approved by Sept. 30 to keep the wheels of government turning.

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act would require proof of citizenship to register to vote in any federal election. The U.S. House approved it in July with the support of five Democrats, but since then it’s languished in the U.S. Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., "doesn’t want to force a vote on it because he knows some of his Democrats will vote for it," House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told The Daily Signal.

"We believe it’s a good move to attach it to a simple continuation of current spending levels that is basically a spending freeze, until March," he added.

Roy noted that it’s already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections, but that fact, on its own, is inadequate.

"It’s not enough to say it’s illegal," he said.

"You have to give the tools to enforce it."

All that’s required at present is for an applicant to affirm that he or she is a citizen, in order to register to vote.

Still, last week PBS re-published an Associated Press story claiming that noncitizen voting is so rare as to be nearly nonexistent, "yet Republicans are making it a major election concern." The facts don’t bear that out, however.

At least four GOP-led states have recently audited their voter rolls and the results are jaw-dropping. They include:

• Alabama, 3,251 non-citizens registered to vote.
• Ohio, 597 noncitizens registered.
• Texas, more than 6,500 non-U.S. citizens on voter rolls.
• Virginia, 6,303 non-citizens were removed from their voter rolls.

And when they register to vote, they often do.

Of the 597 noncitizens in Ohio who registered to vote, 138 already had.

And last week an Alabama noncitizen resident was charged on a nine-count information in federal court for stealing the identity of a U.S. citizen in order to register to vote.

She then voted in the 2016 and 2020 primary and general elections.

She also used her stolen identification to acquire and travel on a U.S. passport.

And these are all at least nominally Republican-led states.

What of the Democratic-led states — those that don’t have an issue with noncitizens voting in their elections?

The conservative House Freedom Caucus members aren’t alone in promoting the SAVE Act; it’s universally promoted by all Republicans, with few exceptions, according to House Speaker Mike Johnson.

"I can verify for you that the SAVE Act is a big part of this conversation," the Louisiana Republican said last month. "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."

A few months earlier PolitiFact called Johnson’s explanation of how insanely easy it is for noncitizens to register and vote a lie.

"Speaker Mike Johnson said immigrants who came to the U.S. under humanitarian parole programs can register to vote at DMV and 'welfare' offices," the fact check organization said.

"It's illegal for noncitizens to vote. If parolees register, election officials would vet their applications."

The states of Alabama, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia would strongly disagree.

Also, if "it's illegal for noncitizens to vote," then Democrats shouldn’t have a problem with the SAVE Act to enforce the ban on noncitizen voting.

And attaching the SAVE Act to the continuing resolution should be a win-win for Republicans — so long as they stick to their guns.

If Democrats pass the continuing resolution with the SAVE Act intact, America’s elections will be more secure and voters’ faith in election results will be restored.

But if Democrats refuse to approve the continuing resolution with the SAVE Act attached, then we’ll be heading to a government shutdown, and that’s good too.

The government never completely shuts down — vital services and programs continue, but when government is mostly shut down, we tend to get into less trouble.

In short, attaching the SAVE Act to the spending resolution is a win-win for both the GOP and America.

Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter. Read Michael Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.