A group of Senate Republicans tried to salvage support Wednesday for legislation aimed at preventing noncitizens from registering to vote, while a government spending bill that includes the measure floundered in the House.
Republicans and former President Donald Trump this week have sought to highlight the immigration and voting issue as a theme for the presidential election and the government spending showdown this month.
Trump has without evidence stoked on social media and in a presidential debate the idea that Democrats were looking to add noncitizens to voting registration lists and vote, and House panels held hearings on noncitizen voting and election concerns.
But House Republicans on Wednesday hit pause for at least a week on a resolution to continue funding the government for six months. The measure includes the text of another bill, dubbed the SAVE Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and require states to remove noncitizens from their official lists of eligible voters.
That afternoon, Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Rick Scott of Florida and other Republicans held a press conference to call for the continuing resolution to include the SAVE Act language or have the Senate pass the stand-alone version the House already passed.
Lee, who introduced the Senate version of the SAVE Act, challenged the idea that it was too late for the bill to matter for the upcoming election anyway, in part because some states are still registering voters.
He compared the need for proof of citizenship to be able to vote to identification needed for boarding a plane, acquiring fishing or hunting license or obtaining a medical prescription.
“It would be insane for us not to have any similar requirement attached to one of our most fundamental activities in our Republican democracy, which is the right to vote,” Lee said.
But the delay in the House cast more doubt on whether it could catch a ride on the must-pass spending measure. Senate Democratic leadership already announced their opposition to the SAVE Act, in part because it is already illegal for noncitizens to vote.
Scott was vague when asked how Senate Republicans might force the issue.
“Well, first off, we’re going to see what the House does. Hopefully they’ll get passed out of the House and come over here and then we’ll have a vote on it,” Scott said. “Look, I think it ought be part of this CR, but just bring it up by itself. Bill’s been already passed the House to bring it up by itself and get it behind us.”
And none of the Senate Republicans at the press conference Wednesday said they would want to shut down the government over the SAVE Act.
“Of course not,” Scott said when asked about supporting a potential shutdown over the SAVE Act. “There’s nobody up here who wants to shut down the government.”
Airing claims
Republicans have been working to highlight the issue. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Wednesday vowed to press on with getting the voting eligibility bill through even though the spending bill was pulled from the floor schedule. Trump, in a social media post Tuesday, seemed to encourage Republicans to tie the SAVE Act to the funding of the government.
“If Republicans in the House, and Senate, don’t get absolute assurances on Election Security, THEY SHOULD, IN NO WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM, GO FORWARD WITH A CONTINUING RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET. THE DEMOCRATS ARE TRYING TO “STUFF” VOTER REGISTRATIONS WITH ILLEGAL ALIENS. DON’T LET IT HAPPEN – CLOSE IT DOWN!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social.
And during the debate, Trump ramped up the claim. “We have to have borders, and we have to have good elections. Our elections are bad, and a lot of these illegal immigrants coming in, they’re trying to get them to vote,” Trump said. “They can’t even speak English. They don’t even know what country they’re in, practically. And these people are trying to get them to vote, and that’s why they’re allowing them to come into our country.”
The House Judiciary Committee held two hearings Tuesday that highlighted “The Biden-Harris Border Crisis,” including one on noncitizen voting.
Among the witnesses at the hearing on noncitizen voting was Cleta Mitchell, chair of Foundation for Accountability and Integrity in Elections Fund, who is known for being one of the attorneys who had a key role in Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
“The Democrats’ plan for 2024 is to change the electorate,” Mitchell said. “If they cannot persuade the American people to want their Marxist policies for America, just import voters who don’t speak the language, don’t have a shared commitment to our country and our national principles, get them into the very porous voter registration system and collect their votes.”
Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, the committee’s top Democrat, said the push to advance the SAFE Act relies on “the false premise that there is widespread noncitizen voting” and that “every credible study has concluded that noncitizen voting in federal elections is practically nil.”
And the bill’s provisions to require removal of noncitizens from lists of voters risk that election officials will target “naturalized American citizens and language minority communities.”
And on Wednesday, the House Administration Committee held a hearing titled, “American Confidence in Elections: Looking Ahead to the 2024 General Election.”
Democracy at stake
The Campaign Legal Center said Wednesday that the Judiciary and Administration panel hearings were “designed to create election panic” and that Republicans were pushing “falsehoods that undermine the freedom to vote for U.S. citizens.”
Trevor Potter, CLC founder and president, said in a news release that there are already strict laws in place that ensure only U.S. citizens vote in our elections and voters in every state are already required to verify their citizenship under penalty of perjury when they register.
“American elections have proven to be secure, time and time again, because of the policies we already use to verify voters. Our system of checks and balances leaves no room for doubt that the official vote count is accurate,” Potter said.
“Ultimately, bills like the SAVE Act and the continued spread of falsehoods weaken our democracy,” Potter said. “They threaten the freedom to vote for qualified U.S. citizens and undermine the hard work done by election officials across the country to make sure only U.S. citizens can vote.”
The proponents of the SAVE Act point to the persistence of noncitizens on voting rolls. Lee cited orders from Republican governors that struck noncitizens from the voting rolls.
Among them was announcement from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in August that he had complied with a state law and removed more than 6,500 noncitizens from the voting rolls, including an estimated 1,930 who have a voter history.
At least one Democrat in the closely divided Senate has signaled support for the SAVE Act. Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, who is running for reelection, said he supports the measure but doesn’t think it should be on the appropriations bill.
“That just mucks things up,” Tester said. “Take it to the floor and debate it. I’ll vote for it, even though it’s not necessary.”
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