Democrats appear to be panicking over Speaker Mike Johnson’s reported plan to link a provision requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration to a government funding bill. On Thursday, The New York Times took to distorting the facts to deflect from the very real problem of a vulnerable federal voter registration system that Democrats refuse to address.
Punchbowl News reported earlier this week that Johnson plans to introduce a continuing resolution (CR) that includes the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act. This legislation would amend the 1993 National Voter Registration Act and require prospective voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship to register.
While it’s technically already illegal for noncitizens to register to vote (or vote) in federal elections, the only thing standing between them and making it onto the voter roll is a small square box on the federal registration form that requires applicants to attest to their citizenship status under penalty of perjury.
Such a move on Johnson’s part has received almost immediate pushback from Democrats. Axios reported on Wednesday that “three senior Democratic sources” say “they expect a full whip operation against the GOP spending bill,” with Democrats in battleground districts likely to “face considerable pressure from their party not to break ranks.”
President Joe Biden previously expressed opposition to the SAVE Act, claiming the “justification for this bill is based on easily disproven falsehoods.” When the House of Representatives voted on the SAVE Act in July, only five Democrats (Texas Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez
