Trump Calls for Govt. Shutdown Unless Congress Makes It Harder for Americans to Vote
Posted on 09/19/2024
The House voted on Wednesday on a continuing resolution to keep the government funded and avoid a shutdown at the end of the month, just weeks before the November election. The vote failed, with Republicans striking down their own bill to keep the government open.
The bill going down 202-220 is another blow for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who pulled a vote last week in order to give himself more time to rally Republicans behind the package — to no avail. The government is set to run out of money in less than two weeks.
“We ran the play,” Johnson said after the bill failed. “It was the best play. It was the right one. And so now we go back to the playbook. We’ll draw up another play and we’ll come up with a solution.”
The bill the House voted down on Wednesday ties the continued funding of the federal government to the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE Act), a piece of legislation that would make it harder for Americans to cast their ballots by requiring proof of citizenship when one registers to vote.
Packaging the two pieces of legislation together is a doomed endeavor. Still, Republicans in control of the lower chamber, led by Johnson, are taking their marching orders from former President Donald Trump, who is demanding the government be shut down if the SAVE act doesn’t pass.
“If Republicans don’t get the SAVE Act, and every ounce of it, they should not agree to a Continuing Resolution in any way, shape, or form,” Trump wrote Wednesday on Truth Social.
“Democrats are registering Illegal Voters by the TENS OF THOUSANDS, as we speak – They will be voting in the 2024 Presidential Election, and they shouldn’t be allowed to,” Trump claimed. “Only American Citizens should be voting in our Most Important Election in History, or any Election!”
There is no evidence that voters are registering illegally en masse ahead of November’s election. Laws in all 50 states prohibit non-citizens from voting in federal elections, and only a small number of municipalities allow non-citizens to vote in local elections. The claim pushed by Trump and other Republicans that non-citizen voting is a widespread problem that is affecting election outcomes has been repeatedly debunked by reputable research firms and election monitors.
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The SAVE Act would require Americans to present physical documents attesting to their citizenship when registering to vote — this would include documents like a passport or birth certificate, or a combination of other documents like REAL ID identification cards, naturalization certificates, consular reports of birth abroad, military IDs, or adoption papers. The list is extensive and confusing because most standard identification documents do not list the person’s place of birth, but rather their current address.
A standard driver’s license or social security card, for instance, would no longer be an acceptable form of ID, and given that many states require voter registrations to be regularly renewed, the new legislation would place a financial and logistical burden on voters who don’t readily have those documents in hand.
In July, a survey conducted by the Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement at the University of Maryland found that one in 10 adults, or about 21.3 million eligible voters, do not have easy access to documents that could prove their citizenship.
The SAVE Act would also make it more difficult to register to vote by mail, as prospective voters would need to turn in their proof of citizenship in person at an election office, or day-of at their polling place in certain states.
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Another insidious provision of the act would make it a criminal act to register “an applicant to vote in an election for Federal office who fails to present documentary proof of United States citizenship,” and would allow private lawsuits against election officials accused of registering non-citizens.
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On Wednesday, Trump wrote that a vote on the SAVE Act “must happen BEFORE the Election, not AFTER the Election when it is too late.” In reality, there would be no feasible way to implement such stringent requirements on voters with less than 50 days remaining before Election Day, and as early voting begins in some states.
But defending the integrity of the election has never been the point. For the former president, continuing to claim that illegal voters are being propped up by Democrats in order to steal the election from him is just one of many lies he’s concocted in service of his own political ambitions. Trump is already laying the groundwork to repeat his 2020 claims of a stolen election, but this time around he has the Republican party fully at his beck and call.
The bill going down 202-220 is another blow for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who pulled a vote last week in order to give himself more time to rally Republicans behind the package — to no avail. The government is set to run out of money in less than two weeks.
“We ran the play,” Johnson said after the bill failed. “It was the best play. It was the right one. And so now we go back to the playbook. We’ll draw up another play and we’ll come up with a solution.”
The bill the House voted down on Wednesday ties the continued funding of the federal government to the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE Act), a piece of legislation that would make it harder for Americans to cast their ballots by requiring proof of citizenship when one registers to vote.
Packaging the two pieces of legislation together is a doomed endeavor. Still, Republicans in control of the lower chamber, led by Johnson, are taking their marching orders from former President Donald Trump, who is demanding the government be shut down if the SAVE act doesn’t pass.
“If Republicans don’t get the SAVE Act, and every ounce of it, they should not agree to a Continuing Resolution in any way, shape, or form,” Trump wrote Wednesday on Truth Social.
“Democrats are registering Illegal Voters by the TENS OF THOUSANDS, as we speak – They will be voting in the 2024 Presidential Election, and they shouldn’t be allowed to,” Trump claimed. “Only American Citizens should be voting in our Most Important Election in History, or any Election!”
There is no evidence that voters are registering illegally en masse ahead of November’s election. Laws in all 50 states prohibit non-citizens from voting in federal elections, and only a small number of municipalities allow non-citizens to vote in local elections. The claim pushed by Trump and other Republicans that non-citizen voting is a widespread problem that is affecting election outcomes has been repeatedly debunked by reputable research firms and election monitors.
Editor’s picks
The SAVE Act would require Americans to present physical documents attesting to their citizenship when registering to vote — this would include documents like a passport or birth certificate, or a combination of other documents like REAL ID identification cards, naturalization certificates, consular reports of birth abroad, military IDs, or adoption papers. The list is extensive and confusing because most standard identification documents do not list the person’s place of birth, but rather their current address.
A standard driver’s license or social security card, for instance, would no longer be an acceptable form of ID, and given that many states require voter registrations to be regularly renewed, the new legislation would place a financial and logistical burden on voters who don’t readily have those documents in hand.
In July, a survey conducted by the Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement at the University of Maryland found that one in 10 adults, or about 21.3 million eligible voters, do not have easy access to documents that could prove their citizenship.
The SAVE Act would also make it more difficult to register to vote by mail, as prospective voters would need to turn in their proof of citizenship in person at an election office, or day-of at their polling place in certain states.
Related
Another insidious provision of the act would make it a criminal act to register “an applicant to vote in an election for Federal office who fails to present documentary proof of United States citizenship,” and would allow private lawsuits against election officials accused of registering non-citizens.
Trending
On Wednesday, Trump wrote that a vote on the SAVE Act “must happen BEFORE the Election, not AFTER the Election when it is too late.” In reality, there would be no feasible way to implement such stringent requirements on voters with less than 50 days remaining before Election Day, and as early voting begins in some states.
But defending the integrity of the election has never been the point. For the former president, continuing to claim that illegal voters are being propped up by Democrats in order to steal the election from him is just one of many lies he’s concocted in service of his own political ambitions. Trump is already laying the groundwork to repeat his 2020 claims of a stolen election, but this time around he has the Republican party fully at his beck and call.
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