Congressional Freedom Caucus Backs SAVE Act on Proof-of-Citizenship Voting

DALLAS — Members of the House Freedom Caucus defended House Speaker Mike Johnson on Saturday for including a proof-of-citizenship vote measure in his stopgap spending proposal and offered ways to ease the pain of a possible government shutdown.

Conservative Republicans, attending the first annual State Freedom Caucus Network summit in downtown Dallas, said in interviews with The Washington Times that some moderate Republicans or Democrats fighting the proposal will not dissuade conservative Freedom Caucus members from supporting Mr. Johnson.

“They’ll say, ‘We’re not going to do it, and you’re going to shut down the government.’ My response will be, ‘Go ahead. Go ahead. Do it,’” said Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina. “And Mike Johnson, I don’t think he would be putting this forward if he wasn’t prepared to do it. That is, stand his ground.”

Mr. Norman added: “If we let them shut down the government, we’re going to have all kinds of modified shutdowns. We can pass a bill that funds the military, that funds different programs that are hot-button issues for Rep. Don Bacons (of Nebraska) or Rep. Michael Lawlers (of New York).”

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, introduced by Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, requires voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship when registering. It passed the House this year with the support of five Democrats, but their continued support for the stopgap bill is not guaranteed.

“What we’re trying to propose is a bill that would freeze spending, control spending through March, take the pen out of the hands of Democrats so they can’t build a more militarized government, and try to ensure that only American citizens vote in American elections,” Roy said.

The Texas Republican continued: “If we basically freeze spending for six months and don’t let Democrats add ridiculous policies with Chuck Schumer in the Senate and the White House in December, and if we fight to make sure only American citizens can vote, tell me what’s wrong with that.”

Mr. Johnson will need near unanimity within the GOP to pass the temporary spending bill, but it will be an uphill battle not only with Democrats but also with members of his own conference.

Some Republicans worry that Mr. Johnson’s plan will force Democrats to vote again on the SAVE Act, but that it is a political gamble that could lead to a partial government shutdown.

The measure must be considered by the House Rules Committee, meaning a vote in the full House could take place by the middle of next week.

Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona questioned whether there were other options between a temporary spending measure and five appropriations bills.

“Is there an option that would allow you to take the five bills that you have and send them to the Senate and then do the budget review through the CR?” he suggested. “Is that type of option available?”

“Nobody’s really talking about another option and that’s the problem with the city … we’re going to do the same thing we did last time, and we’re just going to do it again,” Mr. Biggs said.

“And we hope that we can change, because my question would be: What do you think is going to happen differently with March, even if it’s President Trump, are you going to go back to your 12 appropriations bills?”

Mr. Biggs noted that the Freedom Caucus proposed an option more than a year ago that would fund active military personnel, military veterans and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

“So if we don’t get a budget by September 30,” he said, “then you’re actually funding about 97 percent of your budget anyway, because the 85+ is on autopilot, and now you’ve just sidelined these other critical national security issues.”

Rep. Mary Miller of Illinois said it was “important” not to push the deadline until the Christmas holidays “to fund the government. So if we could skip that step, that would be better.”

Miller welcomed the addition of the SAVE Act and said it was a winner with American voters across the country.

She said: “Polls show that the American people want to know that their elections are safe and secure and that non-citizens are not voting.”

“And it doesn’t matter if they’re black voters, Latino voters, low-income voters, they don’t want non-citizens to vote. They want secure elections.”

Democrats, while pleased with the timing of the funding bill, have lambasted Mr. Johnson and the GOP conference over the addition of the SAVE Act and the lack of additional funding for Veterans Affairs and natural disasters.

While Republicans have introduced a separate supplemental spending package that would close $3 billion of the total $15 billion deficit for veterans affairs, Democrats want more.

VA officials warned Congress in July that they expected to spend more than their current and next year’s budgets because of a surge in veterans seeking benefits due to toxic exposure.

“Even with the introduction of a separate supplemental funding bill, House Republicans are jeopardizing their care by pushing the issue back to March and failing to deliver on the promises we made to veterans exposed to toxic substances,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee.

Alex Miller contributed to this report from Washington DC.