On Wednesday, the House GOP leadership will move a Continuing Resolution that extends government funding for six months beyond the end of the current fiscal year. The SAVE Act, a bill to require states to obtain documentary proof of citizenship before registering someone to vote – which passed the House in July, but has been left alone by the Senate – will be attached to it.
The House should vote to pass the combined bill and send it to the Senate, and the Senate should pass it and send it to the president’s desk.
When the House broke for its August recess, Speaker Mike Johnson faced two key decisions on the annual government funding exercise. One, for how long should the Continuing Resolution extend government funding at its current levels. And two, should the vehicle be a so-called “clean” C.R. with no additional legislative items attached to it, or – since it was likely to be the last “must-pass” bill considered before Congress went home to campaign at the end of September – should some other legislative priority be tacked on?
As he was pondering what strategy would be best, the House Freedom Caucus, composed of many of the Republican Conference’s most conservative members, released a statement “urging Republican leadership to use our leverage in the September spending fight to prevent non-citizens from voting in........