After much fanfare — and the usual GOP Republican infighting — a bill to fund a bloated federal government for six more months has gone down in flames. And with it the messaging opportunity for the next couple of weeks to spotlight the fact that congressional Democrats and their titular head in the White House really do want foreign nationals to vote in U.S. elections.
House Resolution 9494 would have averted another phony government “shutdown” while cutting zero federal spending and adding another $1 trillion to the national debt. In exchange, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and most of his fellow Republicans sought safe passage of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, cleverly attached to the continuing resolution. The measure would require anyone registering to vote in federal elections to provide documented proof of citizenship.
The gambit proved to be clever by half, losing with a final vote count of 220 nays to 202 yeas. Fourteen Republicans joined 206 Democrats in the no column, with three vulnerable Dems crossing the aisle, seven members not present, and two Republicans answering present, according to the roll call.
With razor-thin control of the House of Representatives and more internal trust issues than a “Real Housewives” of wherever episode, the odds were long on passage. That Johnson couldn’t coral enough support among conservatives who loathe the endless line of stopgap government funding bills, Pentagon boosters who fear stagnant funding for the U.S. military, and the irascible warriors who saw Kabuki theater in Johnson’s play
