House Republicans poised to reject funding bill with shutdown just around the corner
NBCSEP 12 2024
By a vote of 220-202, the US House voted against House Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La) proposed six-month federal government funding bill. Of the 220 who voted against, most were Democrats, though 14 Republicans joined them and two Republicans voted present.
The temporary funding bill, known as a stopgap bill, is valued at $1.6T and includes a provision called the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would implement new proof-of-citizenship requirements for voter registration.
The Republicans who oppose the bill include fiscal conservatives, who don't believe in stopgap funding, as well as military hawks like Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers, (R-Ala.), who believes the six-month timeline of the bill risks leaving the military unfunded for too long.
While some Republicans have differing opinions on certain things, the party is very much in agreement on the issue of election security. The real problem is that Senate Democrats haven't brought appropriations bills to the floor, which, alongside the House Democrats refusing to ban illegal immigrants from voting, leaves the government stuck in limbo.
Since Republicans know that noncitizens don't actually vote, what other reason could they have for pushing this? One of the most horrific possibilities is that if the passport and/or birth certificate ID rules were imposed, millions of women who don't have a passport and whose maiden name don't match their married name could be banned from voting.