Trump suggests GOP should shut down gov’t unless they get 'every ounce' of his bill passed

18 September 2024

Republicans in Congress now risk running afoul of former President Donald Trump if they pass a bill to keep the government funded until next year without a controversial rider making it harder for voters to cast ballots.

In a post to his Truth Social account on Wednesday, Trump cautioned the GOP against voting for a must-pass appropriations package unless they also include the SAVE (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) Act in the bill. That legislation would require voters to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote, even though it's already illegal for non-citizens to vote in American elections.

"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 said. "Only American Citizens should be voting in our Most Important Election in History, or any Election! A Vote must happen BEFORE the Election, not AFTER the Election when it is too late."

"BE SMART, REPUBLICANS, YOU’VE BEEN PUSHED AROUND LONG ENOUGH BY THE DEMOCRATS. DON’T LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN," he added. "Remember, this is Biden/Harris’ fault, not yours!"

The former president's insistence on "every ounce" of the bill being included in the funding bill would amount to a de facto government shutdown. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) has indicated a spending package that includes the SAVE Act as a rider would be dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled chamber, and President Joe Biden has already said he would veto it even if it reached his desk.

Last week, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) cancelled a scheduled vote on a continuing resolution (or CR, which keeps government agencies funded at current levels) that included the SAVE Act due to not having enough votes to pass it. In addition to unified Democratic opposition, Johnson also faced pushback from the House Republican Conference over the CR itself, as some members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus were pushing for steep cuts to federal agencies for ideological reasons.

On Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) warned his fellow Republicans against insisting on the SAVE Act's inclusion in the CR, saying voters would "certainly" blame Republicans in November if they couldn't keep the government open.

"One thing you cannot have is a government shutdown. It would be politically beyond stupid for us to do that right before the election, because certainly we’d get the blame," McConnell said.

Republicans' argument that undocumented immigrants are voting en masse is not backed up by any data, and a bill requiring voters to provide proof of citizenship when registering would potentially disenfranchise millions of Americans. This is because, as the Brennan Center for Justice has noted, many Americans don't have citizenship documents (like a birth certificate, passport or naturalization documents) readily available.

"Our research indicates that more than 9 percent of American citizens of voting age, or 21.3 million people, don’t have proof of citizenship readily available. There are myriad reasons for this — the documents might be in the home of another family member or in a safety deposit box," the Brennan Center wrote. "And at least 3.8 million don’t have these documents at all, often because they were lost, destroyed, or stolen."

Johnson is scheduled to bring the bill up for a vote later Wednesday evening, though it is expected to fail.

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