House Republicans push to link government funding to a citizenship check for new voters

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Talk of government shutdown resurfaces as Republicans consider tying voter ID to funding.

House Speaker Mike Johnson is heeding the demands of the more conservative wing of his Republican conference and teed up a vote this week on a bill that would keep the federal government funded for six more months and require states to obtain proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate or passport when registering a person to vote.

Congress must approve a stop-gap spending bill before the end of the budget year on Sept. 30 to avoid a government shutdown just a few weeks before voters go to the polls and elect the next President.

Johnson’s decision to combine the proof of citizenship mandate with government funding complicates prospects for completing that task. The bill is not expected to pass the Democratic-controlled Senate if it even makes it that far.

But the effort could help Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, next year should House Republicans retain their majority, and he seeks to become Speaker again. The vote also could give Republicans an issue to attack Democrats in competitive swing districts as Republicans make immigration-related matters a campaign cornerstone.

“Today, House Republicans are taking a critically important step to keep the federal government funded and to secure our federal election process,” Johnson said Friday. “Congress has a responsibility to do both, and we must ensure that only American citizens can decide American elections.”

Democrats will oppose the GOP effort overwhelmingly and warn that any continuing resolution must have buy-in from both political parties. They said Johnson was making the same mistake then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, did a year ago as he tried to appease conservatives. Ultimately, they rejected his efforts, forcing him to rely on Democrats to pass a temporary spending bill. That fight led just a few days later to eight Republicans joining with Democrats in removing McCarthy from the Speaker’s job.

“As we have said repeatedly, avoiding a government shutdown requires bipartisanship, not a bill drawn up by one party. Speaker Johnson is making the same mistake as former Speaker McCarthy did a year ago by wasting precious time catering to the hard MAGA right, Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York and Patty Murray of Washington state said in a statement, referring to Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement. “This tactic didn’t work last September, and it will not work this year either.”

They said that if Johnson “drives House Republicans down this highly partisan path, the odds of a shutdown go way up, and Americans will know that the responsibility of a shutdown will be on the House Republicans’ hands.”

Schumer is the Senate’s majority leader. Murray leads the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The voter registration measure is popular with House Republicans. The House Freedom Caucus, which generally includes the chamber’s most conservative members, called for it to be attached to a stop-gap bill to keep the government funded into early 2025.

Republicans say that requiring proof of citizenship would ensure that U.S. elections are only for American citizens, improving confidence in the nation’s federal election system, which Trump has sought to undermine over the years.

Opponents say it is already against the law for noncitizens to vote in federal elections and that the document requirements would disenfranchise millions of people who do not have the necessary documents readily available when they register, say, at a concert, county fair, or college voter registration drive.

In an earlier vote on the voter registration bill, Republicans unanimously backed it while all but five Democrats voted against it. President Joe Biden’s administration strongly opposed that measure, saying the alleged justification for the bill is easily disproven.

Some Republicans argue that if Schumer allows a vote, assuming the bill passes the House, a government shutdown would be on him.

“If Chuck Schumer decides he doesn’t want to bring it, then Chuck Schumer will be deciding that he wants to shut down government. It’s not us,” said Sen. Rick Scott, a Florida Republican, during an interview on Fox Business News.

Trump and other Republicans have revved up their complaints about the issue of noncitizens voting with the influx of migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border under Biden’s administration. They are contending Democrats let them in to add them to the voter rolls. However, the available evidence shows that noncitizen voting in federal elections is incredibly rare.

Another central question to address as part of the short-term spending bill is how long to extend funding. Before the August recess, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, An Oklahoma Republican, said he preferred that the next President pursue top priorities without the distraction of a messy spending fight.

The House Freedom Caucus is banking on Trump winning the White House and putting the GOP in a better position to secure the spending cuts and policy priorities it desires. So, it wants to extend funding until after the inauguration in January.

Congress returns to Washington on Monday after spending the past five weeks in their home states and districts. The short-term bill is necessary because the House and Senate are nowhere near completing their work on the dozen annual spending bills that keep government agencies and programs operational during the coming budget year.

So far, the House has passed five of the 12 annual spending bills, while the Senate has passed none. However, the Senate has taken a more bipartisan approach to the challenge by moving 11 bills through the Senate Appropriations Committee with broad support from lawmakers in both parties. Meanwhile, Republicans in the House are using their majority to push bills through with the vast majority of Democrats in opposition.

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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.

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25 comments

Alexa is Biased
September 8, 2024 at 9:05 am

What’s the problem. I’m off to the airport today and I will not be allowed to go through security without an ID. I also can’t get into my place of work without an ID. Want to travel abroad? Need a passport.
- Tom
  September 8, 2024 at 9:13 am
  
  I’ve never voted without producing a license so I don’t see an issue there either but I hope they shut the government down anyhow just to reinforce the fact that republicans are not qualified to govern. The last two House sessions have been amongst the least productive in our history and we need less clowns on both sides of this circus.
- PeterH
  September 8, 2024 at 9:44 am
  
  I vote by mail ….. haven’t been to the polls to vote in 15 years.
- Yrral
  September 9, 2024 at 10:04 am
  
  The problem is you always finding something to bitch about like Trump and lots of the thing you complained about is made up,as long as you get your moist Trump wet dream
Michael
September 8, 2024 at 9:15 am

‘Opponents say it is already against the law for noncitizens to vote in federal elections and that the document requirements would disenfranchise millions of people who do not have the necessary documents readily available when they get a chance to register, say at a concert, county fair or at a college voter registration drive.’

I am a registered independent with strong libertarian leanings. This is one issue where I fail to see the agita from Democrats. Citizenship sometimes requires effort….lack of convenience in bringing a document for the one time you are registering to vote is an extremely flimsy excuse.
ELVIS PITTS AMERICAN
September 8, 2024 at 9:21 am

Hey Sage Patriot House Republicans,
It’s weeks prior to the elaction and y’all are just now waking up to the fact that The Left let all these boarder-crossers in for a reason…To Vote.
You cucks make me, ELVIS PITTS AMERICAN, sick.
Thank God Trump has a plan to work around you cucks.
ELVIS PITTS AMERICAN
- JD
  September 8, 2024 at 11:04 am
  
  Oh, Elvis Pitts American, it must be exhausting to live in a world where facts are a distant memory, replaced by delusions about “boarder-crossers” (nice spelling, by the way) voting en masse. If Trump had a plan that worked as well as your spelling, we’d really be in trouble. But hey, keep clinging to those fantasies while the rest of us live in reality, where the idea of mass voter fraud is about as real as your grasp of grammar.
  
  WE THE PEOPLE reject you.
  - The Sage Elvis
    September 8, 2024 at 5:38 pm
    
    Thank you, JD, for your love and feilty for ELVIS!!!
    It really drives my Sage Wisdom home to the voters when you follow-up my Sage Wisdom with your Dook 4 Brains Leftist Lame @ss “Dook Talking Points” which NoBody is buying into.
    Thanks again JD,
    The Sage Elvis
    - JD
      September 8, 2024 at 6:47 pm
      
      “Sage Elvis Shitts,” dropping wisdom like a broken jukebox. Glad my “Dook 4 Brains Leftist Lame @ss Talking Points” are getting to you—maybe that’s why nobody’s buying into your delusions of grandeur. Keep living in that alternate reality though, it sounds comfy. Just don’t forget to shake, rattle, and roll when the real world catches up.
    - JD
      September 8, 2024 at 6:54 pm
      
      WE THE PEOPLE reject you Shitts.
    - JD
      September 8, 2024 at 6:57 pm
      
      And people are BUYING
      
      Headlines:
      
      “Is Florida in play? Dems at Harris-Walz Palm Beach event say yes”
      
      “Florida is ‘absolutely’ in play for the presidential race: FL Dem Party Chair Nikki Fried”
      
      “Is FL in play for 2024? ‘people don’t want Project 2025, they’re tired of the chaos’”
      
      “As polls tighten between Trump and Harris, is Florida really in play?”
    - JD
      September 8, 2024 at 6:59 pm
      
      Oh, forgot one:
      
      “Inflation was higher in metro areas with greater 2020 Trump support”
Michael K
September 8, 2024 at 10:02 am

These protections already exist in all 50 states. Just look at Georgia, which found ZERO instances of voter fraud out of tens of millions of ballots cast.

This is nothing more than another stunt from a party that is unable, unwilling, and unfit to govern – held hostage by headline-grabbing right-wing narcissists like Matt Gaetz who cripppled the US Congress for more than a month when the Israeli war broke out.
Ron Ogden
September 8, 2024 at 10:58 am

In the long history of democracy, the right to vote has always belonged only to citizens. Americans cannot merely fly to Canada and demand the right to vote. Oh, you say that it should depend upon where you live? Fine! I’ll spend a month in Montreal practicing my French in the hope that I can vote Conservative. But that would be silly. Membership is foundational to the right to have your opinion heard within a group, and in this case your vote is your opinion and the group is the USA, and if you are not a member, that is to say, a citizen, then your opinion should not matter. The people speaking against this basic theory are nothing more than proggie manipulators who care for nothing more than gaining and keeping their cherished power to run everyone else’s life. If you are a citizen, then prove it.
- JD
  September 8, 2024 at 11:02 am
  
  So, you’re saying non-citizens voting in local elections is a slippery slope to chaos, huh? Remind me again, when did Montreal start offering ballots to tourists? Comparing long-term U.S. residents to casual visitors seems like a stretch. If the issue is really about preventing voter fraud, why not show us where this supposed flood of fraudulent votes is coming from? Or is this more about keeping the “right” people voting?
Ron Ogden
September 8, 2024 at 1:41 pm

Tourists or squatters, makes no diff. Citizens vote, transients don’t. Long-term US residents need to become citizens. Go through the process and you’re welcome. Where? The wide open southern US border. The “right” people are the ones who go to the trouble to study the culture, commit to it, pass the test and take the oath. When you do that, glad to see you and please do vote. Until, nope.
- JD
  September 8, 2024 at 6:49 pm
  
  The “just pass the test and you’re in” fantasy. If only it were that simple. The immigration process is more like a bureaucratic obstacle course that takes years, money, and plenty of patience. And let’s be honest, most U.S. citizens couldn’t even pass the citizenship test themselves. As for the “wide open border,” that’s about as real as unicorns. But sure, keep waving the flag of simplicity while ignoring the complexities of reality. Studying culture doesn’t exactly speed up paperwork either.
Michael K
September 8, 2024 at 2:09 pm

There is absolutely no policy need for this, as it is already enshrined in US law. This is simply a pre-emptive attempt to sow chaos and distrust around election time – another voter suppression effort designed to stoke fear and anxiety. And make no mistake: the target is people who “look or sound” different.

Congress should do its job and pass a budget bill. Period.
tom palmer
September 8, 2024 at 4:01 pm

More GOP propaganda. Non-citizens will not be voting in the November elections
PeterH
September 8, 2024 at 5:21 pm

I think it’s a good idea to verify that Florida voters actually live here full time and if they have homes in other states they’re not voting in Florida and Ohio or elsewhere. Maybe House Republicans can check on that.
The Sage Elvis
September 8, 2024 at 5:41 pm

Everyone,
Please study my, The Sage Elvis’s, Sage Wisdom, in my above posting, and just admit it …. your all voting TRUMP,
THANKS DOOKS,
The Sage Elvis
- JD
  September 8, 2024 at 9:14 pm
  
  WE THE PEOPLE reject Trump, DeSantis and SHITTS.
  
  Move out of Florida Shitts.
  - Alexa is Biased
    September 10, 2024 at 7:15 am
    
    You certainly don’t speak for everyone. Nearly 50% do not agree with you.
    - JD
      September 10, 2024 at 7:31 am
      
      No it’s not nearly 50%, especially when counting Florida’s independents. It is similar on the national stage. And we all know the almost 1M voter registration for the BananaRepublicans was the coordinated dark money efforts result of democrat and NPA voter roll purges, not some great turning to your ideology. So I know I speak for far more than 50%. We are tired of the culture wars and lack of governance. You can move out too. WE THE PEOPLE reject you and you ideology.
Yrral
September 9, 2024 at 10:08 am

Let have a national id card,if they truly want national id,lots of you will not be allowed to board a plane without the real id Google Real ID Certified