House Republicans push to tie funding to naturalization test for new voters | News, Sports, Jobs

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson is heeding demands from the more conservative wing of his Republican party coalition and has scheduled a vote this week on a bill that would ensure funding for the federal government for another six months and require states to obtain proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate or passport, when registering voters.

Congress must pass a stopgap spending cut bill before the end of the fiscal year on September 30 to avoid a government shutdown just weeks before the next presidential election.

Johnson's decision to tie the citizenship requirement to government funding complicates the prospects of accomplishing that task. The bill is not expected to pass the Democratic-controlled Senate, if it even makes it that far.

But the effort could help Johnson, the Louisiana Republican, next year if Republicans retain their majority in the House and he seeks to become speaker again. The vote could also give Republicans an issue to attack Democrats in competitive swing districts as Republicans make immigration issues a cornerstone of their campaign.

“Today, Republicans in the House are taking a critically important step to keep the federal government funded and secure our federal election process,” Johnson said Friday. “Congress has a responsibility to do both, and we must ensure that only American citizens can decide American elections.”

Democrats will overwhelmingly oppose the Republican effort, warning that any further solution must require bipartisan approval. They said Johnson was making the same mistake then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) made a year ago when he tried to appease conservatives. In the end, they rejected his efforts, forcing him to rely on Democrats to pass a temporary spending bill. That fight led just days later to eight Republicans joining with Democrats to remove McCarthy from the speaker's office.

“As we have said repeatedly, avoiding a government shutdown requires bipartisan action, not a bill crafted by one party. Speaker Johnson is making the same mistake former Speaker McCarthy did a year ago by wasting precious time pandering to the hard-line MAGA right,” Democratic Senators Chuck Schumer of New York and Patty Murray of Washington state said in a statement, referring to Donald Trump's “Make America Great Again” movement. “This tactic did not work last September and will not work this year.”

They said that if Johnson “pushes House Republicans down this highly partisan path, the likelihood of a shutdown increases significantly, and Americans will know that the responsibility for it lies with House Republicans.”

Schumer is the Senate Majority Leader. Murray chairs the Senate Budget Committee.

The voter registration measure is popular among Republicans in the House, and the House Freedom Caucus, which typically includes the chamber's most conservative members, called for it to be attached to a stopgap bill that would fund the government until early 2025.

Republicans say requiring proof of citizenship would ensure that only American citizens can vote in U.S. elections and would increase trust in the nation's electoral system – a trust that Trump has tried to undermine for years.

Opponents say that the law already prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections, and that the new document requirement would deprive millions of people of their right to vote because they would not have the necessary documents on hand when registering at a concert, a county fair or a college voter registration event.

In an earlier vote on the voter registration bill, Republicans unanimously supported it, while all but five Democrats voted against it. President Joe Biden's administration strongly opposed the measure, saying the purported rationale for the law was easily disproven.

Some Republicans argue that if Schumer allows a vote – assuming the bill passes the House – he would face a government shutdown.

“If Chuck Schumer decides he doesn't want to introduce the bill, then Chuck Schumer will decide he wants to shut down the government. We're not,” Senator Rick Scott (Republican of Florida) said in an interview with Fox Business News.

Trump and other Republicans have escalated their complaints about the fact that noncitizens are allowed to vote while migrants are streaming across the US-Mexico border under the Biden administration. They claim that Democrats let them in to add them to the voter rolls. But the available evidence shows that noncitizen voting in federal elections is incredibly rare.

Another key question that must be addressed in the short-term budget bill is how long the funds should be extended. Before the August recess, House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma) said he preferred that the next president be able to pursue his top priorities without being distracted by a messy spending fight.

But the House Freedom Caucus is banking on Trump winning the White House and putting Republicans in a better position to push through the spending cuts and policy priorities they want, so they want to extend funding until after the inauguration in January.

Congress returns to Washington on Monday after spending the past five weeks in their home states and districts. The short-term legislation is necessary because the House and Senate are far from finished with their work on the 12 annual spending bills that keep government agencies and programs running in the coming fiscal year.

So far, the House has passed five of the 12 annual spending bills, while the Senate has passed none. However, the Senate has opted for a more bipartisan approach, moving 11 of the bills through the Senate Budget Committee with broad support from lawmakers in both parties. Meanwhile, Republicans in the House are using their majority to push legislation through, while the vast majority of Democrats are opposed.