A group of hardline House Republican conservatives and libertarians are demanding passage of a bill against illegal voting as a condition to keep the government open past September 30. The bill, called the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, aims to prevent non-citizens from voting in federal elections. However, most experts agree that illegal voting is not a widespread issue and is already against the law. The bill appears to be a pet project of the Trump campaign to highlight the issue of undocumented immigrants crossing the border. The House Freedom Caucus is pushing for the inclusion of the SAVE Act in a temporary spending bill that must be passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden.
The House already passed the SAVE Act in July, with five Democrats joining with Republicans. However, Senate Democrats have shown no willingness to bring the bill to the Senate floor. The Freedom Caucus members are adamant that the bill must be included in any short-term spending bill, with Republican lawmakers posting their support for the measure on social media. Pro-Trump Senate Republican, Sen. Mike Lee, has also endorsed the idea. House Speaker Mike Johnson has called on Senate Leader Chuck Schumer to bring up the bill in the Senate, but has not explicitly endorsed using the bill as a condition to keep the government open.
The issue of non-citizens voting in federal elections is viewed by most election experts as a non-issue. Instances of illegal immigrants attempting to vote have been rare and in most cases, they have been caught before casting a ballot. Despite the lack of evidence of widespread illegal voting, the Trump campaign and supporters continue to push for the passage of the SAVE Act. Johnson, along with former Trump administration official Stephen Miller, have acknowledged that concrete data on illegal voting is lacking. The push for the bill appears to be a way to put Democrats on the spot ahead of the upcoming general election on November 5.
Lawmakers are currently on summer break and are scheduled to return to Washington in the second week of September. The main item on the agenda will be finding a way to keep the government open past September 30. While it is not uncommon for Republicans to leverage funding deadlines to pass other legislation, a government shutdown near a presidential election is unlikely. The idea of tying the passage of the SAVE Act to keeping the government open has received mixed reactions within the Republican Party. It remains to be seen how this issue will play out in the coming weeks as lawmakers return to Washington and face the challenge of passing a temporary spending bill to fund the government.
